Connections
by kairi's friend
Summary: It's been nearly a year since Turbo has been defeated, and Ralph's hanging out with other people. Vanellope worries that he doesn't like her anymore. When she's given the opportunity to change him to spend more time with her, she unwittingly brings up an old enemy...and a new mystery. She must rely on her friends to uncover her connection to this enigma and save the arcade.
1. Off to See Ralph

CRASH!

"Watch where you're going, kid," the surge protector says, helping Vanellope up.

"Sorry," she says, dusting herself off. She looks apologetically at Q*bert, whom she accidentally ran into. "Sorry, Q*bert."

He says something in his own language and meanders away.

"Thank you, Mister Sparks," Vanellope salutes, using the nickname she gave the surge protector.

"Why are you racing about?" he asks her, adjusting his glasses.

"I'm going to see Ralph!" she says as she sprints off in the direction of Fix-It, Felix Jr. She dodges everyone else as she excitedly makes her way to the terminal for the game and hops into the tram. She's bouncing in her seat as she's thinking about how she's gonna greet Ralph. Maybe she should sneak up on him. Or maybe give a battle cry as she tackles him. Well, tackles his leg at least.

She hops off the tram before it comes to a complete stop. She scans the game until she sees a row of houses off to the side. Ralph's community. She sprints over to the street and up the stairs to his front door. She knocks, waits two seconds, then knocks again.

"Vanellope!"

She turns around and sees Felix walking up to her. "What brings you here, Miss President?" he asks with his trademark smile.

"I'm here to see Ralph," she replies, hopping down the steps.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Vanellope, but he's not here."

Her grin vanishes. "Again?" she moans, her shoulders slumping.

Felix comes closer and pats the girl on the shoulder. "I'm sorry," he says again.

She shrugs off his hand. "Do you know where he is?"

"Um, well…" Felix takes off his hat and scratches his head while his eyes trace the ground – something he only does when he's hiding something.

"Where is he?" Vanellope asks again, crossing her arms and glaring at the man.

He opens his mouth, and at first Vanellope thinks he's gonna give an excuse like he usually does. Instead, he sighs and says, "I can't tell you, Vanellope. He made me promise not to tell you."

"Why's he staying away from me?" she groans, plopping down on one of the steps and resting her chin in her hands. "He's been doing this a lot."

Felix sits down next to the girl. "I'm sure he has his reasons."

She glares at him. "You're not gonna tell me those reasons, are you?" When he doesn't respond right away, she shoots up and dashes back to the tram, ignoring Felix's shouts for her to come back. Tears form in her eyes as the tram takes her back to Game Central Station. She angrily wipes them away before she gets out. Storming out of the terminal, she scans the room. No sign of Ralph anywhere.

"Looking for someone?" a voice behind her asks.

Vanellope turns around and sees a girl with short red hair, blue eyes, and wearing a pink dress with a pouch around her waist and matching shoes. "Who are you?" she bluntly asks.

The girl smiles and puts one hand on her chest. "My name is Kairi. I'm from the arcade version of _Kingdom Hearts_ that got plugged in a few months ago."

"Oh, yeah." Vanellope remembers there being quite a commotion that day.

"Are you looking for someone?" Kairi repeats.

"Yeah. Have you seen my friend Ralph? He's got big fists and a stench you can smell a mile away."

Kairi shakes her head. "No, I haven't seen him. Sorry."

Vanellope grumbles and crosses her arms.

"Don't worry. You'll find him soon."

"What makes you so sure? He's been avoiding me for a while now. We used to meet up after the arcade closed, but now I hardly see him."

Kairi smiles. "Just because you don't see him, doesn't mean he's not with you."

"Huh?"

Kairi points at Vanellope's heart. "He's always in your heart. As long as you remember him and he remembers you, you will never be apart from each other."

"Are you sure?" Vanellope is very skeptical about this whole thing.

Chuckle. "I'm sure." Kairi starts to walk away.

"But what if he doesn't want to hang out with me anymore?" Vanellope is saddened at the thought. "I won't be part of his life anymore."

Kairi bends down. "Hey," she says gently. "If there's anything I know, it's that everyone's connected to each other."

"Yeah, I know. I was told about the code already."

"I'm not talking about the code. Look, if you and Ralph have a strong friendship between you, it won't go away. You will always have that connection to him, regardless of what happens to either of you." With one last reassuring smile, Kairi straightens. "I'm heading over to Tapper's to meet up with my friends. Would you like to join us?"

Vanellope shrugs and manages a little smile. "Sure." They both walk over to the terminal for Tapper's and get in the brown tram. They sit in comfortable silence as they travel along the cord. When they reach their destination, they hop out and make their way inside the pub-like building.

Vanellope freezes once she's inside. There, in a corner, surrounded by other videogame characters, is Ralph. He talks intently with them, a mix of heroes, villains, and extras alike. "Ralph?" she whispers broken-heartedly.

Ralph glances over at that precise moment. The smile on his face disappears. "Kid," he says. The other characters turn around to see who it is and awkwardly turn away from Ralph, some whistling innocently.

Vanellope storms out of Tapper's. "Kid!" Ralph shouts, hurrying out of the pub.

"You rat!" she screams, glaring at him. Her eyes sting with the threat of tears, but she wills them back. "I've been looking all over for you, and you just ignore me!"

"No, I'm not ignoring you!" he says. "Look, I was gonna come over to your game after meeting with those guys." He motions to the pub.

"I don't wanna hear it!" She turns and runs away, tripping once but regaining her balance.

**A/N: I was debating whether to put this under crossover or not, but decided to put it here. Even though I mention Kingdom Hearts (it's my favorite videogame), this is just a cameo; it underlines the idea that everyone's connected to each other. Also, I do not own anything. This is just a fan story.**


	2. A Spot in the Race

Vanellope tearfully sprints back to her old home in Diet Cola Mountain. She likes coming back here every so often, especially when she's feeling down. And she's never felt more down in her whole life. Not even when she was picked on for being a glitch.

She doesn't stop running until she's inside. Then, she collapses on the ground, both from exhaustion and sadness. She cries for a long time, letting her pent-up emotions out. How could Ralph do that to her? True, he has other friends, too, but he always made sure to see her first, to hang out with her first. Would he rather hang out with other people than her, a 9-year-old who's spent most of her life as a glitch?

Sniff. She sits up and wipes her eyes and nose with her sleeve. What would happen to her friendship with Ralph? Kairi's words come to mind: "_If you and Ralph have a strong friendship between you, it won't go away_."

"I thought it was strong," Vanellope mumbles as she stands, shoves her hands in the pouch of her hoodie, and kicks at a nearby crumb of peanut brittle stalagmite. Sighing, she takes a walk around her old home, recalling everything she'd done here. Of course, the two memories that come up the most are the ones where she shows Ralph around and where he helps her learn to drive. She misses him more than ever.

"Attention," a male voice says from an unidentifiable location. "The arcade is about to open."

Vanellope grumbles as she exits the comforts of her mountain hideaway. She did the Random Roster Race before going to meet Ralph, and naturally, she'd earned a spot. But now, she's not feeling like racing, and she's always wanted to race. As she makes her way to the track (as president, she has to be at all the races to officially start them), she notices Citrusella Flugpucker, sitting on the hood of her car, chin in her hands, sighing. Citrusella didn't make it onto today's Random Roster, though she came really close. "Hey, Citrusella," Vanellope calls out.

The indigo-haired girl looks up. "Oh, Your Presidency," she says, hopping off the hood. She's always been a polite girl.

"I'm not feeling up to racing today. How about you take my spot?"

Citrusella's honey-brown eyes widen. "Are you sure, Your Presidency? No one's ever given up a spot before."

"I'm sure."

"Thank you so much!" Citrusella jumps into her kart happily and drives down to the start line. Everyone is surprised that Citrusella is racing instead of Vanellope, but once she explains she doesn't want to race today, they all go about getting ready for the opening of the arcade.

Vanellope climbs the stairs to the top of the popcorn stand reserved for the ruler of Sugar Rush. Sour Bill is already there. "Mmm…ready?" he asks, looking up at her through half-lidded eyes.

"No," she mutters. "I'd rather be elsewhere."

All the citizens gather in their appropriate stands. Though they all have their favorite racer, they all get along and sometimes even cheer for other racers. They've all been much friendlier to each other since Ralph defeated King Candy/Turbo nearly a year ago.

_Ralph…_ Sigh.

Vanellope glances back behind the popcorn stand. There's her kart, ready for her to use as soon as the arcade is closed. She usually leaves her kart behind when she goes to visit Ralph, but she's determined to see him first.

"Quarter alert! Quarter alert!"

She shakes her head clear. She has to look happy as the president, act like everything is normal and fine. The nine chosen racers dash to a nearby room, where they pose and smile and hope the gamer will choose them. Once a racer's been chosen, they'll sprint for their karts as Vanellope gives her usual speech about how racing's fun, and she wishes them all good luck, and blah blah blah.

"Chews your racer!" the overhead voice says.

Everyone watches the jumbotron as the gamer rolls over all the characters until he lands on Citrusella. He chooses her, and she jumps and sticks one foot out, giving her catchphrase: "Pucker up!"

One of the marshmallow cameramen points his camera at her and counts down on his fingers three…two…one. Vanellope smiles widely and gives her speech. She signals the start of the race, and the drivers take off. Vanellope's smile drops as the camera turns to follow Citrusella. She watches the race on the jumbotron, making sure to at least smile and cheer when Citrusella drives past the red and white checkered line. On the third and final lap, Citrusella pulls ahead by nearly a mile and ends up the winner. After she gets the trophy and congratulates the gamer, she skips back onto the track, the golden trophy in her hands.

"Thanks again, President Vanellope!" she beams.

"No problem, Citrusella," Vanellope says, sliding down the purple Fruit Roll-Up slide.

Citrusella reaches into the trophy and pulls out a coin. "Here, you should have this."

"No, no! You won that coin! You should keep it!"

"I wouldn't have won this if you hadn't let me play." She holds it out again. "It's my way of saying thanks."

Vanellope knows the racer means well, but she's so uncomfortable when it comes to accepting gifts. After never receiving a gift in years, she's still not used to be given anything willingly. She pushes the golden coin back to Citrusella. "I don't want the coin," she says. "Thanks, though."

Citrusella nods her understanding and tucks the coin into her back pocket as the trophy materializes back in its spot above the checkered line. "I will find a way to make all of it up to you!" Not only is she polite, she's determined.

The rest of the day goes by with only a handful of gamers. Vanellope watches on the jumbotron what goes on in the rest of the arcade. A lot of gamers are gathered around Fix-It, Felix Jr. Vanellope smiles. It's nice to see her friend's game in action. Speaking of which, she slides down from the stand to check on her kart. As she rounds the corner, she spots Citrusella talking to Sour Bill a little ways away. She's too far to hear what they're saying, and Sour Bill's face is as bored as ever. Vanellope shrugs it off, tending to her kart. There's nothing unusual about Citrusella talking privately to Sour Bill.

…Right?


	3. Accident

**A/N: Thanks to Shyfrost, Nagasha, and iluvvanellopevonschweetz for reviewing! :) Enjoy this chapter!**

"All clear! The arcade's closed!" Yuni shouts as soon as Litwak locks the door.

"Oh, boy! Oh, boy! Oh, boy!" Vanellope shouts, jumping around a little before excitedly sliding down to the track. She skips around the corner of the stand.

Sour Bill is sitting in her seat in the kart. "Hello, Vanellope," he drones.

"Get out of the kart, Sour Bill," she says, putting her fists on her hips. "I'm going to see Ralph today."

"We need to do the Random Roster Race first."

Growl. "Fine, but let's do this quick." All the racers give one of their coins, and soon the race begins. Vanellope, eager to see Ralph, finishes first, and without stopping drives toward the tram that will take her to Game Central Station. Unfortunately, because she raced hard in the Roster Race (she won in half a minute), her engine gives out. "Nononono," she mutters as the engine putters and her kart slows. She's almost up the rainbow track, then she'll hop out. But her kart has other ideas. The engine stops working, and since the track is sloped, she rolls back down, gathering speed. "Ahhhhh!"

CRASH!

Vanellope coughs and waves sugar dust out of her face as she crawls out of the wreckage. Her kart has collided with Taffyta Muttonfudge's, and now both karts are in serious need of repair. Every character comes over to check on the girls.

"My kart," Taffyta sobs, kneeling down and picking up the pink steering wheel.

"I'm so sorry, Taffyta," Vanellope says, stepping forward. "I didn't mean to crash."

"I know you didn't." Though Vanellope's glad Taffyta isn't mad at her, Vanellope's still not used to being forgiven so easily.

"Hey, maybe that Fix-It guy can help!" Rancis suggests. All the others support his idea.

Vanellope grimaces. By the time she gets to Felix, Ralph could be off with other characters. Still, she knows her job as president means she has to help her game first. "I'll go get him," she says, running off. _Maybe if I'm lucky, I can catch Ralph on my way to Felix_.

It doesn't take her long to run all the way to the Nicelanders building. She slows down a little when she spots Ralph talking to Q*bert outside their homes and decides to run straight to them. "Ralph!" she calls out.

He looks up and smiles at her. "Kid!" he says, holding his arms out wide.

Vanellope jumps up and hugs him. "I finally get to hang out with you!" She hops down.

"Looks like it, kid. Hey, before we do, Q*bert and I need to talk to Felix about fixing a couple roofs."

"Oh, yeah, I need to talk to him, too."

"Great! We'll ask him together." He holds open the front door, and Q*bert and Vanellope go inside. They all take the stairs (since Ralph's too big and heavy for the elevator) and they stop outside the door to Felix's apartment. She knocks on the door.

Felix is quick to answer. "Oh, hello," he says cheerily. "How may I help you?"

"Q*bert and Coil need their roofs fixed," Ralph says. "There are a couple holes."

"And I accidentally crashed into Taffyta's kart," Vanellope says.

"WHAT?!" they all say.

"Don't worry, we're not hurt."

"I'd better check on the karts first," Felix says. "Let's go, Vanellope." He starts for the stairs.

"Aren't you coming, too, Ralph?" she asks, looking up at her friend with big anime eyes.

His face falls and he says, "I'd better stay with the others. Their roofs are falling apart, and if they get badly hurt they won't regenerate."

Vanellope understands, but she feels like the whole arcade universe is trying to keep her from Ralph. "Don't do anything without me." She points a finger at him before catching up with Felix. She leads him over to her game to where the crash happened. The only people still at the crash site are Taffyta, Candlehead, and Rancis.

"Oh, my land!" Felix cries when he sees just how damaged the karts are. "What happened here?"

"I was trying to drive up the track to the tram, but then my engine died and I went backwards until I crashed."

"How did your engine die?" Felix asks as he takes out his trusty golden hammer. "Were you racing too hard?"

"Um…yeah. I was trying to hurry so I could see Ralph."

With a few taps of his hammer, Felix fixes Taffyta's kart. She thanks him, hops in, and drives away with her friends. "I know you like hanging out with Ralph, Vanellope," he says as he fixes her kart, "but Ralph would never forgive himself if you got hurt because of him. You have to be careful."

She crosses her arms. "I was just trying to see him first. I thought if I got to him first, he wouldn't want to spend more time with everyone else."

Felix straightens, gives the girl a look. "You think Ralph wouldn't want to spend time with you?"

"Well, yeah."

"Vanellope." Felix grabs her shoulders. "You are Ralph's most special friend. Nothing will ever change that. You mean everything to him."

She hangs her head. "Lately, it seems he doesn't want to hang out with me at all."

He gives her a hug. "I'll talk to him for you," he says when they pull apart. "I'll tell him you miss him and want to see him more."

She grins. "Thanks, Felix. C'mon, let's hurry back." Vanellope takes off for the tram, leaving Felix in the dust. By the time he catches up to her, he's huffing. They hurry over to Fix-It, Felix Jr., Vanellope getting more excited about seeing her friend. When the tram stops, she sprints over to his house. She's about to knock on his door.

But then her eyes catch something in the window.

Walking over and pressing her face to the cold glass, she sees Ralph holding part of the roof – and he's talking to Citrusella. "What?" Vanellope breathes. The two of them seem to be having a good time talking, and once they laugh. Tears forming in her eyes, Vanellope stomps away.

"Vanellope!" Felix says, stopping her from getting to the tram. "What is it?"

"Some friend Ralph is," she says, rubbing her eyes. "I saw him talking to Citrusella Flugpucker."

"So?"

"So, he should be hanging out with me!"

"Vanellope." Felix crosses his arms. "You're not jealous, are you?"

"I'm not jealous. I just don't think it's fair everyone else gets to hang out with Ralph and I don't."

He puts an arm around her shoulders and leads her back to Ralph's house. "How about we both go over and explain to him-"

"No!" Vanellope throws off his arm.

"Vanellope, listen!" Felix grabs her hand.

She glitches away from him. "No!" she shouts again as she hurries back to Game Central Station.


	4. The Archiving Code

**A/N: This is my favorite chapter so far, just because of everything that happens in it. It was so fun to write! :)**

Vanellope huddles in a corner of the main station, hugging herself as she cries. How could Ralph see Citrusella when he said he'd wait for her to come back? Maybe he doesn't want to hang out with Vanellope anymore. They haven't really hung out in a couple months. Maybe the connection between them isn't really that strong. Maybe Ralph has moved on.

"Vanellope?" she hears. She looks over her shoulder – Ralph, Felix, and Citrusella are now entering Game Central Station. Their eyes scan the area. "Vanellope!" Ralph calls out again.

"Not now," she hisses to herself, drying her eyes. "They can't find me!" She hurriedly looks around for an escape. She sees a nearby entry to a game and dashes into it.

BEEP! BEEP!

The surge protector appears. Adjusting his glasses, he asks, "What are you doing going into-" he looks up at the game's digital sign, "-Frogger?"

Vanellope anxiously glances at her "friends." If they heard the beeping, they make no show of it. "I'm trying to hide," she whispers.

"Hide from what or whom?"

Vanellope inches further into the terminal. Ralph is walking over to this side of the station. If he comes closer, he could spot her. "Please!" she says to the surge protector. "Take me with you! Get me out of here!"

He's shocked. No one has ever wanted to go with him and see where he stays when not doing security checks. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, doi! Please, I promise I won't bother you!" Another glance at Ralph. If he turns his head to the left, he'll see them. "Please!"

"Alright, alright!" The surge protector grabs her hand. "This might shock you a little."

ZAP!

"Yow!" Vanellope jumps out of his grip, shaking her hand to get rid of the strong tingle. Her hand slows down as she takes in the sight before her. "Whoa." The whole room is electric blue, and white lights zip all around the walls. The furnishings are simple and white, with a glass table in the middle of the room.

"Please, take a seat," the surge protector says, motioning to one of the white chairs by the glass table.

Vanellope feels herself move over to the seat, but she's too awestruck to notice. Upon closer examination of the walls, she realizes they're made of tightly packed glowing blue wires. Some of the white lights flash in place, others zip, and some stay lit in place. "What is this place?" she breathes.

"This is where I stay when I'm not doing my job." He comes over with a cup of water. "Here you go."

"Thanks, Mister Sparks." She takes the cup and sips. "Why are the walls made of wires?"

"Oh, well-" he adjusts his glasses, "-the wires act as an archiving code."

"What's an archiving code?"

"You know how all videogames have a code?"

"Yeah."

"Well, for the surge protector, there's an archiving code, where all games, events, and characters are recorded and kept forever. Even if the game is unplugged or a character dies, the code is recorded here."

"Really?" This sparks Vanellope's interest.

"Oh, yes. A surge protector needs to be able to protect the games and their appropriate characters, and to do that he needs to know what has happened before to prevent it from happening again."

Vanellope starts thinking. "Does the archiving code ever change?"

"Well, whenever a new game is added or something happens in one of the games, during or after hours-"

"No, I mean can you change anything here in this code?"

He stares at her. "Why would you want to know that?"

"Oh, no reason, just thinking." Well, that isn't completely a lie.

The surge protector is quiet for a moment. "Well, I remember once I had to talk to a member of Asteroids about something, even though the game was unplugged already and almost all the characters gone. He appeared for a short time, but when we were done I had to make him disappear." His face falls. "It was sad seeing him disappear for a second time."

A light in the ceiling turns red and flashes as a beeping noise blares. The surge protector straightens his tie. "I'll be back," he says. As soon as he flashes out of the room, the light and noise stop and the room is electric blue again.

Vanellope sets her cup on the table and slides off the chair. She examines the white lights in the wires, wondering if any of them are for Ralph. All she wants is to maybe change Ralph's code a bit so he'll want to spend more time with her. Closer to the wires now, she notices there are names near the lights. Squinting she reads "Tapper's," "Zangief," "30th Anniversary of Fix-It, Felix Jr."…

"Turbo Time." Vanellope has heard of that game. After saving the arcade, Ralph and Felix told her and the other Sugar Rush characters who Turbo was and what had happened before. Seeing the name of his game sends a chill through her code, and she shudders, pixelating slightly. She continues along the wire when another name sends a chill through her.

"King Candy."

"But he's dead!" Vanellope says aloud, more to reassure herself. Then she remembers what the surge protector said: "_Well, for the surge protector, there's an archiving code, where all games, events, and characters are recorded and kept forever. Even if the game is unplugged or a character dies, the code is recorded here_."

She groans, not liking having to see the person who caused so many years of reject and pain as one of the lights. She continues on, searching and searching and –

"Aha!" she says, jumping in the air. "Found you, Ralph!" She reaches out to touch it, but recoils at the last second. How is she going to do this? What happens if she taps the light? What would Ralph do if he ever found out she tried to change him? That last thought makes her stomach drop. She tentatively reaches a hand out.

"What are you doing?" the surge protector asks, all of a sudden appearing.

Vanellope yelps and jumps, accidentally hitting a couple of lights. She regains her balance and steps away, looking up at the lights she hit. Her code goes cold and her eyes widen when she reads the names: "King Candy" and "Boss Battle upon Diet Cola Mountain."

"What did you do?!" the surge protector says, coming over and staring at the now rapidly flashing lights.

The wires start humming as the room lights up with a soft white glow. "What's happening?" Vanellope almost shouts over the loud humming.

The surge protector doesn't say anything, only grabs her and shields her from the light growing in the middle. They both shut their eyes tight as the light goes blinding for a moment, then vanishes. They both turn around. "Oh, no," Vanellope moans.

There in the middle of the room stands King Candy, looking over himself, his back to them. "Success!" he says with a small chuckle. He turns in the direction of the two wide-eyed people in the corner – but before he can see them, a hovering ball of code appears between them. It pixelates into an image: Ralph trying to dislodge the Mentos while fighting King Turbug. The only glimpse Vanellope ever had of King Turbug was when she saw him lift Ralph into the air and drop him. She watches this fight with wide eyes, too surprised to make a sound. She watches Ralph get tossed around like a candy wrapper, carried into the air, and she's more surprised to see him break out of King Turbug's grasp. He _wanted_ to fall. The scene continues as Ralph hits the top of the Mentos, and once it shows Ralph being saved by her and all the cy-bugs dying in the Diet Cola beacon, the ball blinks and depixelates.

Only then does King Candy see Vanellope and the surge protector. His eyes widen when he spots the little racer. "Vanellope!?"

"No!" she cries out. "You can't be here! Get away from me!"

He looks hurt. "Vanellope, my dear, I'm free now. Why are you treating me like this?"

"Why wouldn't I, creep?"

He takes a step back. "But-"

"Turbo-tastic!" an all-too-familiar voice says. Everyone looks to see none other than Turbo standing to the side, his features glitching red back and forth between his real self and his King Candy self.

"_Two_ Candys?" Vanellope says.

"I don't believe it either," the surge protector says, taking off his glasses and cleaning them. "This has never happened when I summoned someone back before."

Turbo/Candy chuckles darkly. His eyes narrow when he spots Vanellope. "Because of you, glitch," he spits, "I have returned to the arcade!"

"How dare you, monster!" the other Candy says, putting his hands on his hips and glaring at Turbo/Candy.

Vanellope leans forward, peering at both Candys. "You two look…weird." Indeed, they are now emitting a dim, blue glow.

"That happens when someone or something has been recalled from the code," the surge protector explains, moving Vanellope behind him.

She looks at him with wide eyes. "But he's not _back_-back, is he?"

The surge protector looks from one Candy to the next. "In this case, I'm not sure."

"I should thank you," Turbo/Candy smirks, "but it would be more fun to ruin your life."

"As if you haven't done enough, Turbo!" the other King Candy says.

"Give it a rest, Candy," Turbo sneers. "Your days are over. I will return to Sugar Rush and I will make sure _she-_" he points at Vanellope, "-never gets to race again! And while I'm at it, I might gather a few cy-bugs." His eyes narrow maliciously at Vanellope and his lips curl up into a wicked grin. "Just like the boss battle, right?"

She shudders at the thought of King Turbug. Having to rewatch that moment when he fought Ralph was horrible, but to have that happen again?! Her very code glitches as she trembles.

"No!" Candy says, stepping towards and reaching out a hand to Vanellope, who shrinks back from all the weirdness going on. Again, he looks hurt.

"Stop it, all of you!" the surge protector shouts, holding his hands out. He glares at both Candys. "I don't know what exactly is going on, but it will not happen in my home! I'm going to have to make you both disappear." He starts toward the wire-walls.

"No!" Turbo/Candy shrieks, lunging for the surge guy. They both fall to the floor and are wrestling each other.

The solid Candy comes up to Vanellope. "My dear, are you alright?"

She backs away from him. "Stop pretending to be nice to me!" she screams. "You've done nothing but make my life miserable! You almost killed my friend!"

"You mean the big guy on top of Diet Cola Mountain that that creature was fighting?"

"Stop messing with me!"

"I'm not messing with you! I'm trying to understand! I've been locked up for so long, I was afraid I'd never see you again." He looks at her in a way she can't place and once more reaches a hand out to her.

She slaps it away. "No!" She turns and runs to the other side of the room. _Man, I wish there was a door_.

"Vanellope!" She turns to the surge protector, who is still struggling with Turbo/Candy. "When I tell you to," he says, "jump." He finally manages to shove Turbo/Candy off and shouts, "Jump!"

She does, and he makes an electric blue and white portal appear below her. She yells as she falls through and lands on her rump outside the terminal to Sugar Rush in Game Central Station.


	5. The Dream

"Hey, Vanellope!" Citrusella's cheerful voice calls out as she runs up to the president. "I wanted to thank you again for – hey, are you okay?"

Vanellope is going back and forth between pacing at the bottom of the popcorn stand at the track, glancing up at the jumbotron, and looking into the distance at Sugar Palace. She jumps when she hears Citrusella. "I was just thinking," she says.

"You look nervous."

"Well, doi! There's a lot going on!" Vanellope feels guilty about snapping at Citrusella. Even though she's freaking out about the Turbo/Candy problem, the other racer doesn't deserve being yelled at. Whether she's Ralph's new friend or not.

Citrusella, though, remains calm. "Is there anything I can do to help?" she offers.

Vanellope knows she means well, and she almost tells her about the archiving code, but decides against it. She should keep Turbo's return a secret for now. "I dunno," she says, shuffling her feet. "I'm just feeling really stressed. I'm not even sure if I'm gonna race today or not."

"Again?" Citrusella is worried. This is the second time in a row the president has dropped out of the race. The minute the arcade is closed, she is going to find Ralph and tell him about Vanellope. Surely he can find time away from his plans to check on his old friend.

Vanellope feels pixel butterflies flying around in her stomach. "I need a break," she moans, walking over to her kart.

"Where are you going?"

"To the Sugar Palace for a nap."

"Will you still race today?"

Vanellope really wants to say yes, really wants to feel the wind whip through her ponytail as she accelerates down the track. She glances once more at the jumbotron at her name at the very top. "We'll see," she says before hopping into her kart and driving up to the palace.

* * *

_Vanellope shifts gear and feels her white kart speed up along the icy path to the Ice Cream Mountains. She laughs as some of the flavored snow hits her face. She hears another kart behind her. Looking back, she sees King Candy in a purple and yellow kart. He smiles at her, she smiles back, and they both pull towards the mountains. They're bumper-to-bumper as they zoom down Rainbow Ridge. He pulls ahead of her as they make it out of the mountains. She guns the accelerator, and manages to get ahead of him and cross the checkered finish line first._

_All the citizens and racers gather around and cheer for her. She jumps out and smooths out her pink dress. King Candy screeches to a halt. "Well done!" he says, hopping out of the purple and yellow kart. "You were magnificent, Vanellope!"_

_"Thanks," she beams._

_All the Sugar Rush racers swarm around her, showering her with compliments and giving her high fives. After a while, they part as King Candy comes forward with the golden trophy. "For you, my dear," he says, presenting it to her._

_Vanellope's eyes go wide. "Really? I actually get the trophy?"_

_"You won it fair and square."_

_Candy makes a noise in surprise when Vanellope throws her arms around him. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" They break apart from their hug and she takes the trophy._

_Taffyta says, "You must be the best racer in all of Sugar Rush – and it's only been a week."_

_Vanellope smiles, but then her eyes catch something red and white behind one of the stands. Her smile slowly vanishes as she squints at the figure. His yellow eyes hold an emotion she can't quite place. He still scares her, though he's been here for a while. He grins at her, revealing yellow teeth. He then says something, and even though he's too far to hear, it looks like he's saying, "You're going down, Princess."_

"Gah!" Vanellope shoots up in bed and pants as she looks around. She pants as she glances around her room. Everything looks normal. No sign of Turbo. She puts a hand to her head. "That was weird."

"Mmm, you okay?"

Vanellope looks up at Sour Bill standing in the doorway. He's not looking at her through half-lidded eyes like he usually does. He looks worried. "I'm okay, Sour Bill," she says. "I just had a weird dream." The dream is still vivid in her mind. "It felt so real."

Sour Bill click-clacks over to the side of her bed. "Can I get you anything?"

Vanellope's hand drops onto the mint green blanket as she stares at him in disbelief. True, it's his job to assist the leader, but he's never offered to do anything before. "Uh…" Involuntarily, she glances around for possible eavesdroppers before turning to the sour cough drop. "Look," she says in a hushed voice, "you have to keep what I'm about to tell you a secret. No one else is to know about this. No one!"

Sour Bill merely nods and says, "Mmhmm." Vanellope tells him about the weird dream she just had. He looks up at her curiously. "This is the first time you've had that dream?"

"Yeah." She pauses before slowly saying, "I think it might be because…I saw Turbo."

His eyes narrow in confusion. "What do you mean?" he drawls.

Vanellope then goes on to tell him all about the past few days, from trying to meet Ralph, to Citrusella, to the archiving code. "Then, I accidentally bumped into the light for King Candy, and there were two King Candys summoned!"

Sour Bill's eyes go wide. "So it's true," he blurts out.

"What's true?"

His pupils shrink to tiny dots, as if afraid he said something he shouldn't have. "Uh…" He dashes out of the room.

"Hey!" Vanellope shouts, jumping out of her bed. "Get back here!" She chases him down hallway after hallway, ending up in the throne room. She chases him a couple of times around the throne before he slips through the pink curtains. "C'mon!" She runs through the curtains.

It's much different back here. The walls change from sparkly pink (as they are throughout the rest of the palace) to solid white. Vanellope begins to slow down, amazed that this place even exists. Sour Bill takes advantage of this and disappears down a white hallway. She then picks up her speed, determined not to lose sight of that sourpuss. She rounds the corner and sees a flash of green vanish through two automatic doors. She glitches through before they shut. When Sour Bill frantically looks around for a place to hide, she pounces on him.

"What did you mean 'it's true?'" she demands.

Sour Bill's response is muffled, since he's smushed against the floor. Vanellope slides off of him, but keeps a grip on the cough drop. "It's true! It's true!" he cries. "There are two King Candys!"

"That's impossible! How can there be two King Candys?"

"I don't know," he sobs. "I remember I saw one in a fungeon cell, but then a second Candy came in and told me never to go there again! King Candy told me I was seeing things and not to tell anyone about it!" Tears in his eyes, he shuts his mouth, his lips trembling.

Vanellope releases him, taking this all in. There really are two King Candys? What does that mean? "Is that it?" she asks Sour Bill, in a kinder tone.

His watery green eyes look up at her, his lips still trembling.

"Attention. The arcade is about to open."

Vanellope shoots up. "Sweet mother of monkey milk, we gotta be at the track! Let's go, Sour Bill!" They both leave the room and sprint through the palace until they make it outside and to Vanellope's trusted kart. She zooms down the road to the track, where she parks her kart in its spot according to the roster. Everybody is rushing around, getting ready for the first gamer.

Vanellope climbs out of her kart and makes her way to the bottom of the popcorn stand, where she plops down, emotionally and mentally drained. Sour Bill clacks over to the exhausted girl. "Hey," he says in a hushed voice. He looks shy, twiddling his jelly bean-like hands together, but he finally tells her, "I'll tell you all I know about King Candy when the arcade closes. You might as well know."


	6. Memory

That whole day, Vanellope can't get Sour Bill's words out of her head: "_I'll tell you all I know about King Candy when the arcade closes. You might as well know._" What else is there to know about King Candy? Besides the fact that there are _two_.

Citrusella keeps glancing at Vanellope every race. At least she's racing, but the president seems very distracted. Are her duties as leader of Sugar Rush getting to the best of her? Is there something going on between her and a friend? Citrusella only wants to help Vanellope, and she's still planning on talking to Ralph about it.

Finally, the arcade is closed, and everybody relaxes. The Random Roster Race goes by fast, and when it's over, Vanellope eagerly gets out of her kart and hurries over to Sour Bill. "We should go somewhere with fewer people," she tells him. "We can't let others find out about this just yet."

Sour Bill nods, but before they can do or say anything else, Wynnchel and Duncan approach them. "Pardon, Your Presidency," Wynnchel begins, taking off his police cap, "is it okay if we run the safety drill now?"

_Sweet mother of monkey milk, I forgot!_ Ever since the near takeover of Game Central Station last year, all games have been running drills, some more often than others. Sugar Rush happens to be the game running the most drills (since the threat almost started here). "Sure," she says, "but do I have to be here for the drill?"

"Not this time, Your Presidency," Duncan answers.

"Yes!" When the donut cops have left, she turns to Sour Bill. "How about we go to Tapper's? We can talk there and get a root beer at the same time." _And maybe I'll get to see Ralph_.

"Mmm, 'kay."

Vanellope can't wait for the crowd to clear so she can have a safe, straight shot to the terminal. As soon as the last sugary citizen is out of the way, she guns the engine and they take off for the terminal. Sour Bill, who has never left the game, stares wide-eyed around Game Central Station. He follows her into Tapper's. Not as many people are here yet.

"Two root beers, please," Vanellope says to Tapper as she and Sour Bill slide into chairs.

"Comin' right up."

As soon as they get their drinks and are left alone, Vanellope says, "Okay, Sourpuss, what do you know about King Candy?" She takes a sip.

He motions for her to come closer. "A few months after Sugar Rush was plugged in, I heard noises coming from the fungeon, and King Candy said not to worry about it. He said it was just a character who had gotten into trouble. But I kept hearing the noises. A few years later, I spotted King Candy going down into the fungeon. I thought the person making the noises down there would try to hurt him, so I followed behind to protect him."

He stops to take a sip of his cool drink before resuming. "I lost him down in the fungeon, but then I heard someone cry out for help. I followed the voice and found King Candy trapped inside a cell. I asked him how he got in there, and he said he was tricked by a wicked monster and I had to let him out right away so he could get rid of it. But then I heard King Candy's voice behind me. There were _two_ Candys. The one behind me told me to get away from the locked-up Candy, saying he would just help the glitch." Vanellope cringes hearing that word again. "The one in the cell didn't know anything about a glitch, but he kept demanding to be let out so he could reset the game. The other King Candy grabbed me and led me out of the fungeon, forbidding me from ever going back. When I asked him about there being another King Candy and resetting the game, that's when he told me about how you were made a glitch and how only you could reset the game. But all he said about the other Candy was that he had to stay in the fungeon until he could figure out how to get rid of him."

Vanellope thinks this over. She remembers one of the Candys she saw called the other one a monster, and he said he was free. But why did _that_ King Candy look at her like that and try to touch her?

"Hello, Vanellope," Kairi says, walking up to the pair. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Sour Bill. I call him Sourpuss." She smiles.

"Nice to meet you, Sour Bill."

"Mmhmm."

Kairi turns to Vanellope. "Mind if I join you for a root beer? Sora and Riku are busy play-fighting each other."

"Sure." They make room for Kairi, and Tapper swiftly comes over with a fresh mug of root beer. After a pause, Vanellope says, "Hey, Kairi, are you still sure about connections and friendships?"

"Of course. Why?"

"Well-" she rests her chin on her hand as she uses her other hand to twirl the mug, "-whenever I see Ralph, he's always laughing and talking with someone else. Whenever I do get to talk to him, it's only for a short time and he tells me we're gonna hang out, but then we don't, 'cause he goes off with other people."

Kairi places a hand on Vanellope's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I don't know how to help you. I don't know Ralph very well. You seem distracted," she adds when Vanellope's eyes glaze over in deep thought and her hand stops moving.

She gives her head a shake to bring her back into reality. "I've got a lot of stuff on my mind," she sighs.

"Like what?"

"Well, I had a weird dream that felt really real."

"Not surprising. A lot of times, dreams are based after what's happened in real life."

She thinks about this. "It can't be – but…" She recalls the details of her dream. The King Candy in her dream was nice, and Turbo was apart from everybody else. The Taffyta in her dream said the game had only been plugged in a week. What did happen that first week Sugar Rush was open? Vanellope tries to remember far back.

"Ahh!" She gives a slight glitch and puts a hand to her head.

"Vanellope!" Kairi says. "Are you okay?"

"My head hurts," she moans in reply.

"Do you need to lie down?"

"I don't think so." She feels something pat her on the back, and she looks up at Sour Bill. He looks at her with such concern…and guilt?

"What happened?" he asked her.

"…I was trying to remember back to the first week our game was plugged in, but then I got a massive headache."

Kairi asks, "Can you remember anything?"

"No."

Sour Bill looks away.

Vanellope notices this. "What is it, Sourpuss?"

He blinks, still looking off into the distance. "I…I think I remember something," he mutters. "Something about you and the game. But it doesn't make sense."

Kairi puts a hand to her chin in thought. "This is weird," she muses. "And I thought not having a backstory was weird."

The two Sugar Rush people give her a look. "What do you mean?" Vanellope asks.

Kairi shrugs, takes another sip. "You know how whenever a game is plugged in, the characters all have a backstory that explains who they are and why they're like that?" They nod. "Well, I didn't get one – well, not one like everyone else."

"How so?"

"All I know is that I showed up on Sora and Riku's island one day without any memories of my past self, then a storm comes and destroys our home and Sora has to travel to different worlds to find us. All I do in the game are the brief intro and epilogue; for most of the game I'm trapped by Heartless and unconscious. So I don't really know who I'm supposed to be." Her face falls.

Vanellope's heart goes out to the redhead in front of her. "I'm sorry."

Kairi assumes a small, sad smile. "It's okay. At least you two have backstories."

"…No," Vanellope realizes. "I don't. Sour Bill, do you?"

He looks up at her and nods.

"How come I don't?" Vanellope huffs and crosses her arms, glaring at her half-empty mug.

"Really?" Kairi is astounded. "You don't know anything about who you are?"

"Of course I know who I am. I'm a racer."

"But do you know why you are? What your background is?"

She thinks really hard, but all that comes to mind are the years of ostracism and reject. "I was a glitch before becoming a racer," she grumbles.

"How can you be a glitch? I thought they couldn't leave their games."

"I wasn't a glitch until Turbo made me one."

Kairi leans a little closer. "How did he do that?"

"He tried to delete my code so he could be king. Then he told everyone I was a glitch and that I couldn't race. When I finally did, I reset the game and became a racer."

"Why would deleting your code make him king?"

"'Cause I was the princess, but I gave all that up to be president."

"Hmmm." Everyone's silent, wrapped up in their own thoughts. "When you reset the game," Kairi finally says, "did you gain any memories?"

"No, but everyone else did." Vanellope slumps her shoulders. She's feeling more and more different from everyone else.

"That's odd. I would've thought if you reset the game, you would've remembered your backstory." She rests a hand on Vanellope's arm. "Try one more time to remember. I'm sure it's within you somewhere."

Vanellope takes a deep breath and scrunches her eyes shut, concentrating really hard. Her dream comes to mind. She tries pushing it out of the way and recalling her backstory, but the dream persists. She keeps seeing King Candy's smile, all the citizens gathering around her, Turbo uttering his threat. Vanellope finally manages to push away that dream – but then an all-too-painful memory comes forth. The day she found out she was a glitch.

* * *

_The weather was perfect, as it always was, as racers lined up for the roster race. Vanellope was down there with everyone, waiting for their rightful ruler to announce the race. She was standing next to Taffyta. They had met earlier. "Hey," Taffyta had said. "I don't think I've seen you around here."_

_"I'm Vanellope von Schweetz."_

_"Taffyta Muttonfudge. I'm the best racer in the game."_

_"I doubt that," Vanellope had said smugly. "Winner gets a coin from the loser."_

_"Deal."_

_Now they were standing and waiting, casting competitive, but friendly, glances at each other. Finally, Sour Bill comes forward. He droned, "All hail our rightful ruler, King Candy."_

_The said person jumped out from behind two red curtains. "Hello, my loyal subjects!" He flung sugary treats out. "Have some candy!"_

_One of those pieces hit Vanellope on the head, and her whole body glitched blue._

_All the racers took a step back and gasped. "What?" King Candy remarks, peering down at her. "A glitch!"_

_Everyone screamed._

_"How can this be? I thought-" He shut his mouth before he could say anything more._

_Vanellope didn't understand. What was wrong with being a glitch? She'd done it earlier today when she tripped over a root in the candy cane forest._

_"Don't let her race!" King Candy shouted. "She'll make our game be unplugged if she glitches during a race! Or she'll make us glitch, too!"_

_Taffyta shrieked and backed further away from Vanellope. "Get away from me!"_

_"But I just wanna race," Vanellope said. It occurred to her then that she didn't have a kart. "Uh, could someone let me borrow their kart to race?"_

_"SECURITY!" King Candy bellowed. "Don't let her get a kart or a coin!"_

_Two donut cops came out. "Come here, you little glitch!" the taller one said._

_Vanellope yelped and ran away, not understanding why they were all scared of her glitching. Didn't everyone do that? She climbed up into one of the stands to avoid the donuts, but all the citizens in that stand panicked and leaped out, not wanting to be anywhere near a glitch. "I just wanna race!" she repeated, feeling tears stinging her eyes._

_King Candy narrowed his eyes at her. "You'll never race, glitch. No coin, no kart, no race." He chuckled._

_The donut cops started climbing over the side. Vanellope turned and scrambled down the other side, running into the forest. She heard the king's voice behind her tell everyone that it was alright; as long as no one helped the glitch everything would be fine. And she would find out as time went on that no one else glitched. She was alone. She had no friends to turn to or laugh with. She wished every day for a friend, someone who was like her: different._

* * *

Vanellope tells Kairi and Sour Bill her one memory. "That was the worst day of my life," Vanellope moans, downing the rest of her root beer.

"I'm sorry you had to live through that," Kairi says.

"What about your backstory, Sourpuss?" Vanellope asks the cough drop. She thinks hearing someone else's backstory will make her feel better.

He looks down at the table before back at her, hesitating. "Well," he mumbles, rubbing the back of his head, "it doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah, you said that. What is it?"

He sighs. "It was with you and King Candy in the Sugar Palace. You were both planning something-" his green eyes squint as he tries to remember, "-a party, I think. You both were so excited and wanted me to help with the planning."

Vanellope breaks out laughing. "Me and King Candy, planning a party? Haha, that's very funny, Sourpuss." She wipes a tear from her eye. "Seriously, what did you remember?"

"That was it."

"Yeah, that doesn't make sense," Kairi says. "Why would he be mean to you and then want to plan a party with you?"

Vanellope slouches, then shoots back up. "Hey! I think I know someone who can help us with our problem!"

"Who?"

"Mister Sparks!"

"I'm afraid I don't know him."

"He's just the surge protector. He's got an archiving code that remembers everything. C'mon! I'll show you!"

She hops off her stool, and the others follow her out the door and to the tram. Vanellope's bouncing in her seat, eager to _finally_ get this whole thing sorted through. They all leave the terminal and Vanellope looks around, wondering what she can do to get the surge protector to show up. She tries running into the next-door terminal. That usually brings him here; he hates it when people run through terminals.

BEEP! BEEP!

…Nothing happens.

"What? He should be here!" She runs across the station to the terminal on the other side.

BEEP! BEEP!

…Still no surge protector.

"Why isn't he showing up?" Then Vanellope remembers what happened last time she saw him. Both Candys were in that room, and the surge protector was fighting Turbo/Candy. Did something happen to Mister Sparks? She hopes Turbo/Candy didn't do anything to him. Or the other Candy for that matter.

"Is he usually late?" Kairi asks.

"No, but I hope he's okay."

An electric blue piece of paper appears next to her, hovering in the air. "Huh?" Vanellope takes the paper, looking at the writing scrawled on it. It reads: "Vanellope, I know you're trying to find me, but I can't leave my room. Both King Candys are still here and to keep them from getting out (and from interfering with the archiving code), I put my room under lockdown. They can't leave – but neither can I, or the electric shield protecting the code will vanish, and they can tap a light and leave. I know some people will take advantage of my absence, but I can't leave just yet."

"Two King Candys?" Kairi says. Vanellope tells her all about the return of Turbo/Candy and the flashback of the boss battle. "Whoa. That's really weird."

"But you can't tell anyone. We can't let people know about this just yet."

Kairi touches her pointer finger to her thumb and drags both across her mouth. "My lips are sealed."

Meanwhile, in the surge protector's room, the three men are watching this scene happening live on a pixel ball. This is the only way the surge protector can show events happening at the moment. He wasn't going to show a pixel ball, but none of them had anything to do and he wanted to know why Vanellope was breaking the rules. (It's in his coding to automatically know who does infractions and where they happen, but not why.)

"Aww, how sweet," Turbo/Candy mocks. He still glitches red back and forth, though he and the other Candy lost their electric blue glow already. "The glitch has friends."

"Shut up," the solid Candy says, glaring at the "monster."

The surge protector sighs. He's never not gone to take care of an infraction, and it's making his electricity crackle. He knows Vanellope means well, but until he can take care of this problem, he can't leave. The two Candys start arguing again. The surge protector groans. "That's it!" he shouts. "I can't take it anymore! You two have got to go now!"

"Does that mean you'll get rid of this shield?" Turbo/Candy asks hopefully, his eyes narrowed.

There is a risk, the surge protector knows. Right now, there's a shield of transparent white electricity blocking access to the wires. Lowering that shield would let the surge protector send the two back, but it could also give them a chance to bring someone else back or escape.

"You can't do that!" the other Candy says. "He'll just take over everything!"

"You stay out of this, Candy!"

"I'd rather die than let you hurt another game, Turbo!"

The two fight again, but this time Turbo/Candy punches the solid Candy, knocking him back and dangerously close to the electric shield.

"Hey!" the surge protector shouts. "There's no need for violence!" He rushes over to the stunned Candy, helping him sit up. He feels something hit him in the back of the head, and he falls to the ground unconscious, Turbo/Candy standing over him.

"How could you do that to him?" the other Candy said.

Turbo/Candy doesn't say anything. He just smirks wickedly at the electric shield lighting up once then vanishing, leaving the wires wide open. "Finally," he says, stepping toward a wire. "I can take over-"

"No!" The other Candy tackles Turbo/Candy, and they both collide into a light. They both look up from the floor and see the light for "Fix It, Felix Jr." flash. Before either one can say or do anything, they are beamed to the game.


	7. Red Candy, Blue Candy

In Fix It, Felix Jr., Ralph and Citrusella are inside his house talking about Vanellope. "She's been really distracted lately," the indigo-colored racer tells him. "And she almost dropped out of the race two times in a row."

Ralph plops onto his bed, which sagged under the sudden weight. "Poor kid," he says, his eyes downcast.

"Could you talk to her? I'm sure it'll make her feel better."

He thinks about it. He knows she's wanted to hang out with him for a long time now. Is that why she's like this? Does she miss him that bad? But he had plans to talk to Princess Peach and Princess Daisy today. It's hard to talk to those two girls, and he doesn't know when he'll get the opportunity to again. He needs to talk to them.

On the other hand, Vanellope is his dearest friend. If something's wrong, he should be there for her. He nods. "Alright," he says, standing up. "Let's go find her."

CRASH!

"What was that?" Citrusella asks.

"It sounded like it came from the dump," Ralph says.

They both open the front door and peer around, Citrusella below, Ralph on top. They see the dump, but nothing looks out of the ordinary. Then they see a flash of red and some bricks roll down the pile. "What the…?" Ralph says. They both leave the house and make their way silently to the dump, trying to find anything else out of the ordinary.

Something from within the pile must be moving, as bricks are moving and sliding from their positions. "Help! Help!" the muffled voice says. "Let me out!"

Citrusella recognizes that voice. But the last time she heard it…

A hand shoots out from the garbage, clawing at the bricks. An arm follows, then a head. An all-too-familiar head.

"You!" Ralph shouts, glaring at King Candy.

He looks down at Ralph and smiles. "Oh, you must be Vanellope's friend! Hello!"

"Stop playing around, Candy!" the wrecker growls, clenching his hands into fists.

Another head shoots up from the garbage. Ralph and Citrusella gawk. _Two_ Candys?

The one who just popped up flickers red, showing a glimpse of Turbo. "You," he seethes at the first Candy. "I'll have you deleted for this!" He lunges at him, but because of the bricks, they both end up sliding down. Ralph and Citrusella jump out of the way in time. Turbo/Candy sits up and growls at the solid Candy. "I don't care if I need you or not!" He picks up a brick, preparing to use it as a weapon. "End of the line, Candy!"

The other Candy gasps and grabs Turbo/Candy's wrist as he brings the brick down. Turbo/Candy glitches red from the strain, and the once-solid Candy is now glitching blue. "I'm not letting you reprogram anymore of my game!" the blue-glitching King Candy says.

"Hey!" Ralph says, smashing the ground with his fists.

The shockwave knocks the other three to the ground. Ralph grabs a Candy in each of his hands. Because his hands are so big, only their heads and shoes can be seen. Citrusella scrambles to her feet and shuffles back, afraid of what's going on.

"Let me go, you halitosis-riddled warthog!" the red-glitching Candy says.

"Please!" the blue-glitching Candy begs. "I just want to see Vanellope!"

"Shut up!" Ralph says. "I don't know how you pulled this off, Turbo, but you won't get away with this."

"Please, I beg you!" the blue-glitching King Candy says, his eyes full of emotion. "I need to reset Sugar Rush!"

"You're not getting rid of me so easily, Candy," Turbo/Candy spits.

"Vanellope already reset the game, pillow-pants," Ralph tells the blue guy. "I'm not falling for that trick."

"It's not a trick!" he says. "I really do need to get back to my game!"

"Don't listen to him!" Turbo/Candy shouts.

Citrusella doesn't like being anywhere near these two glitching creeps. "I'll go get some backup," she offers, running towards the tram.

"Oh, no you don't," Turbo/Candy says. He sinks his teeth into Ralph's fist.

"Ahh!" Ralph lets go of Turbo/Candy and shakes his injured hand out. This gives the rogue racer a chance.

He dashes to Citrusella, grabbing her and holding onto her. She struggles to break free, but he's too strong. "You won't tell anyone about this," he sneers at her. Ralph steps toward him. "Uh uh uh," he says, squeezing Citrusella's arms tight. She shuts her eyes in pain and she cries out. "One more step and I'll break her bones."

"Enough!" the blue-glitching King Candy says. "It's bad enough you hurt Vanellope, but to hurt an innocent racer?"

Turbo/Candy's eyes narrow, and a wide, malevolent grin spreads across his face. "I told you before, Candy: I always get my way, no matter what."

Citrusella opens her eyes and looks up at Ralph. They both know that Turbo can very well kill her here and now, and she won't be able to respawn. She'd never race again. A tear trickles down her cheek at that thought.

Felix hears commotion going on outside. He hops off his bed and walks to the window. "Oh, my land!" he says when he sees the scene taking place down below. Ralph and that Sugar Rush girl look like they need help. But he doesn't know what to do. He can only fix things with his hammer. Sure, Tammy tried to teach him how to fight, but that was with a gun, and they were fighting cy-bugs. How is he going to fight Turbo…and maybe a second King Candy? An idea pops into his mind and he turns from the window for a moment.

"Come on, Turbo," Ralph says. "We don't want any trouble. Just leave the kid."

"I don't think so, _Wreck-It_." He starts backing away, dragging Citrusella with him. "I need to make sure you keep quiet about this. We wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for everyone, would we?" He chuckles when he sees Ralph's glare and blue Candy's horrified expression. "Now, I have an arcade to take over." He wraps an arm around Citrusella and grabs her chin. "Who knows, she could make a great cy-bug." He laughs maniacally – until a pie hits him in the face.

The impact knocks him back, and Citrusella is able to break free and run to Ralph. "Yes!" they hear a voice say. They look up and see Felix jumping in his apartment. He disappears for a moment, then returns with another pie. He throws it at Turbo/Candy, who gets hit again. Everyone laughs at the sight of the red-glitch racer covered in bits of fruit and crust.

He sits up and wipes the stuff from his face. He growls. "I'm not gonna let you-"

"Ralph?" Everyone turns to see Vanellope, Sour Bill, and Kairi step out of the tram. After they'd gotten the letter from the surge protector, Vanellope thought it would be nice if Kairi could meet Ralph. But none of them expect this scene.

"You weren't kidding when you said there were two Candys," Kairi comments.

"Glitch!" red Candy snarls, clenching his hands.

"Leave her alone!" blue Candy shouts, glitching out of Ralph's grip. He runs up to the red maniac and delivers a punch. Turbo is knocked back, but he regains his balance. "Vanellope, run!"

Wait, King Candy is telling her to run? Somehow Vanellope doesn't believe it. After all, he did cause years of torment. Oh, yeah, there's two Candys. But why would one be so nice to her? She's snapped out of her thoughts when Ralph taps her on the shoulder. "Kid, we need to get out of here," he tells her. Everyone else is heading to the tram.

But for some reason, Vanellope won't leave just yet. Seeing that one King Candy glitch blue, like her, instead of red, like Turbo…

"Vanellope, my dear!" the blue Candy shouts, giving Vanellope that look again. "You must run! Run away!"

Only then does she listen. She leaves the two Candys struggling and joins the others, jumping into the tram as it departs.

"Are you okay, kid?" Ralph asks, looking at her with concern and love.

She nods. Normally, she'd reply with a sarcastic comment, but after what just happened, she's not feeling up to it.

Citrusella speaks up. "Hey, Ralph, thanks for saving me."

He smiles at her. "No problem." He looks down at Vanellope and ruffles her black hair. "Just making sure my friends are okay."

Vanellope smiles back. She likes how caring Ralph is to others, especially to her. He's been something of a father figure to her. It makes her feel special and wanted when he gives her that look.

Her code goes cold and her smile fades. Wait a minute. That look! That look of love and kindness and friendship and concern.

That was the same look the blue-glitching King Candy gave her.


	8. Friendly Talk

"Hey, you okay, kid?" Ralph asks when Vanellope's smile disappears.

"Of course, Stinkbrain," she says, trying to be her usual sarcastic self. But he can see right through it. Something's on her mind. Citrusella was right about the kid being distracted. He wonders how she's going to be now that Turbo is back, twice.

He turns from Vanellope to Citrusella. He whispers to her, "When we get to the station, find Peach and Daisy. Tell them I can't make it today but I'll try to meet them tomorrow."

Citrusella smiles. "You got it."

Vanellope hugs herself as she sees Ralph and Citrusella whispering to each other. She remembers seeing them laughing together in his house yesterday. She knows she's still Ralph's friend, but it still hurts seeing the two of them get along, talking as if they have some big secret they won't let her in on. She sighs. It hurts not having her best friend like she used to. Maybe they just aren't as close friends as she thought.

But then she remembers being in the archiving code yesterday. Not only did she bring Candy back (twice), but she made that ball appear that showed the boss battle in Sugar Rush. Ralph wanted to fall from being carried up that high. Why would he do that?

The tram comes to a stop, and they all get out, Vanellope the last one. Kairi notices this and stops Ralph while the others go on ahead. "Ralph, you should talk to Vanellope," she tells him. "She misses you so much."

Ralph sighs, not wanting the kid to feel so down. He nods his understanding, and the redhead goes off to her own game while Citrusella (with Sour Bill tagging along behind) goes to find Princesses Daisy and Peach. His hands come together as he turns to face little President Fartfeathers. "Listen, kid," he says. "We should talk."

Vanellope nods. They both quietly make their way over to a bronze bench in the middle of Game Central Station and sit down. Vanellope starts the conversation. "So, you and Citrusella seem to be good friends, huh?"

"Yeah, we just started hanging out. She told me you weren't being your normal self and thought I should check up on ya."

"She said that?" She's touched. Other than Ralph, no one has ever cared about her before. Not even when everybody got their memories back.

"Vanellope, you're not jealous, are you?"

She shakes her head. "I'm not jealous. I just miss you. We never hang out."

He rubs the back of his head. "Yeah, well, I've been pretty busy."

"It just seems like you'd rather hang out with other people than me." She looks down at the bench. "For the past couple months, whenever I tried to find you, you were away from your game and talking to other people. Even when I found you, you told me you couldn't hang out. I started thinking you didn't like me anymore."

It occurs to Ralph then how little time he's spent with his friend. True, he's been talking to other people, but he couldn't talk to them around Vanellope; that's why he's been away. He never realized how Vanellope must have felt. "Vanellope, I'm so sorry. Man, now I really feel like a stinkbrain."

Vanellope smiles. "The stinkiest brain ever," she says.

He smiles back. "I'm glad you're feeling better, kid," he tells her as they bump fists. "I hope seeing two Candys didn't upset you more."

She nervously chuckles. "I, uh, heh, sorta brought them back," she says, her voice getting quieter with each word.

"You what?" His eyes go wide. "How?"

They both look around them and see too many people out about in the station to talk about it safely. They go over to the terminal for Sugar Rush. They plan to hide behind the wall, but seeing how many people pass by the terminal, they decide to hop onto the tram and talk inside the game. "I went with the surge protector to his room," she says as the tram takes off through the cord. "He's got an archiving code that records and remembers everything in little dots of light. When he left to take care of some business, I tried finding your light."

"Why?"

"…So I could…change you," she mutters.

"Change me? Why?"

"Look, I was feeling hurt. I saw you talking and laughing with Citrusella, and-"

"Whoa whoa whoa! When did you see me talking to Citrusella?" Vanellope reluctantly tells him the story of what happened yesterday, from crashing the karts to seeing the archiving code, to bringing the King Candys back. Ralph is silent the whole time.

"I didn't want to tell anybody, 'cause I thought it wouldn't be this bad, and I wanted it all to be a bad nightmare. All that happened was I had a really weird dream that King Candy and all the racers and citizens were nice to me, then Turbo showed up and I woke up. Then Sour Bill said there really were two King Candys, and-"

"Whoa!" Ralph says, at the exact same time the tram comes to a stop. They hop out. "There really are two Candys? That wasn't just some glitch with the system?"

"Well, Sourpuss thinks so. I don't know what to think. Except that the blue-glitching Candy is creepy and weird."

"How so?"

"He keeps looking at me the same way you do."

Ralph makes a face. "You think I'm creepy and weird?"

"No! He looks at me like he cares about me, like we're friends. He's never been like that." They start shuffling down the rainbow path.

"Well, we both know that can't be the Turbo guy," Ralph says. "But why would the other Candy care about you?"

"I don't know, but next time he does that I'll slap him."

Ralph chuckles.

"But, really," Vanellope says, looking up at her hero, "I'm sorry I tried to change you. I like you the way you are, I was just feeling left out. And you can hang out with Citrusella all you want – just don't forget me."

"I can't believe I didn't even see you when you came by. I'm sorry I made you feel that way."

"It's okay. At least I got some time away from your stench." She smirks at him.

He grins back.

"Hey, Ralph? One last thing. I also bumped into a light for the boss battle between you and King Turbug. I thought he dropped you when he brought you up high, but you broke free. Why'd you do that?"

He kneels down at the bottom of the rainbow path. "'Cause you're my best friend, Vanellope," he tells her with a smile. "And I wasn't gonna let anything happen to you as long as I lived. It was my duty, and a really big duty."

She giggles.

"Hey!" They look and see Citrusella and Sour Bill coming up to them. Citrusella beams and says, "Looks like you two patched things up."

"Yeah, I'm friends again with Stinkbrain here," Vanellope says as Ralph straightens.

Citrusella says, "Sour Bill thinks he remembers something else about you and King Candy."

The other two get excited. "Really? What?" the little racer asks.

Sour Bill shuffles forward with his sour expression, fiddling his jelly bean-like hands.

"Go on," Citrusella tells him.

"When we all regained our memories," he mumbles, "I knew you were the rightful ruler – but I also remembered seeing you and King Candy together. I couldn't figure out why you would be the rightful ruler if there was a King Candy. No one else seemed to know about another King Candy, so I kept quiet - until you told me about your dream."

"Yeah, that is weird," Vanellope says, putting her hands in her pouch. "If I was the rightful princess, why would there still be King Puffy-Pants?"

"I thought more about that party you and Candy were planning. He said that would be your first royal decree as the rightful ruler. It was only a week since the game was plugged in."

"Really? In the dream I had, Taffyta said I was the best racer, and the game was only plugged in a week."

Citrusella wonders aloud, "What if that wasn't just a dream? What if that was a memory?"

They all think about this. A memory? For real? Vanellope really wants a memory of the time before she was a glitch, but that dream doesn't seem real. "If that was a memory, why didn't I remember it when I reset the game?"

"Maybe it takes a while," Citrusella says. "I know even though I regained my memory, I didn't think much about my backstory, or my past. It wasn't until something happened later that triggered some sort of flashback."

"Why would seeing Turbo and King Candy trigger a flashback?"

Ralph's face lights up in realization, but he doesn't look happy. "Hey, kid," he says, "you said the blue-glitching Candy looked at you the same way I did?"

"Yeah." Vanellope makes a face. "That was weird."

"How does he look at you?" Citrusella asks.

"Like he actually cares about me."

"And didn't you used to be Princess Vanellope?" Ralph continues.

"Yeah, doi, but I changed it to president."

"Don't you find it interesting that the _king_ would look at a _princess_ like that?" No one else seems to be following. "Kid, I don't just treat you as a friend, I treat you as if you're my kid. If King Candy is looking at you the same way I do…" He leaves it hanging in the air.

Only then does it click in everyone's mind. "That would explain why he is so nice to you," Citrusella says.

Vanellope shakes her head. "No, no way-"

"Vanellope," Ralph says, "I think the other King Candy is your father."


	9. Racer and Ruler

"No!" Vanellope screams. "That can't be true!"

"It makes sense, though," Citrusella says. "It explains why there are two King Candys: one is Turbo in disguise, and the other one is your dad."

"Why wouldn't I have remembered him before?"

"Maybe you did," Sour Bill suggests, looking more curious than sour. "You said in your dream you saw King Candy _and_ Turbo?"

Vanellope opens her mouth to speak, but shuts it as she recalls her dream. Racing against King Candy, who looked like he was having fun and not trying to hurt her, him giving her the trophy, seeing Turbo crouched behind the stand, hearing him utter the words "You're going down, Princess." Could that really have been a memory?

"But I don't get something," Ralph says. "If Vanellope reset the game, then why isn't he a player? Why wasn't he made a part of the game again?"

"Good question," the citrus-themed racer says, tapping her chin in thought.

Ralph remembers something. When he caught the Candys and held them in his fists, one of them said he had to reset the game. "Do you think the real King Candy needs to race and cross the finish line?" he muses.

"Maybe," Citrusella agrees.

"Hold on a second!" Vanellope interrupts. "We don't know if there really _is_ a King Candy in the game."

"Vanellope," Ralph tries to explain, "it makes sense."

"No!" the president shouts. "He can't be real! He's not my dad! It-It's just Turbo playing a mean trick on us! I don't have a fa-AAUUUGGGGHHHH!"

"Vanellope!" Ralph cries as the girl glitches blue and cradles her head.

"Bad…headache," she groans before passing out.

* * *

_Vanellope skips down the hallway. She can hear the voices coming from the throne room. She makes her way to the staircase and, even though she is wearing a puffy pink dress, slides down the pink railing. "Whoohoo!" she cries as she rides the rail. She lands gracefully at the bottom._

_"Vanellope, my dear," King Candy says, turning from the donut guards and a handful of citizens. "What brings you here?"_

_"I was bored," she admits. "Plus, I wanted to be here and watch you work."_

_He gives a tired smile. "Oh, my dear, I appreciate that, but now's not the best time." Sour Bill does his best to fan the king with the lollipop fan._

_"Sir," Duncan says, "we really need an answer as to what we're gonna do about the broken track."_

_"The track's broken?" Vanellope echoes. "That's horrible!"_

_One of the citizens explains, "Part of the cake portion of the race collapsed, and we don't know how to rebuild it."_

_"Your Majesty," another citizen says, coming forward, "the arcade opens in a few hours. What are we gonna do?" All the other citizens join in and pester the old man with their questions and demands. The cops can't seem to calm anyone down or silence anyone._

_"QUIET!" Everyone stops and stares at Vanellope. "Thank you. Now-" she starts pacing, her hands behind her back, "-you say part of Cakeway is wrecked?"_

_"Yes," a citizen says._

_"What part of it?"_

_"Just the tunnel, but no one can drive through."_

_It doesn't take long for Vanellope to think up something. "Clear out the cake crumbs and chunks, then just set up a wafer ramp. We can do without the top part for a day."_

_They all stare at her._

_"Well, if you want the top part, just use candy wrappers and sticks, or hollowed out gumdrops, or something."_

_The citizens look at each other, clearly thinking this over._

_"What a marvelous idea, Vanellope!" King Candy says. He jumps in the air and chuckles. "I fully endorse it." He turns to his loyal subjects, who straighten themselves. "Do as Princess Vanellope says." They all nod and turn to leave. When the last person's gone, King Candy turns to his little girl and says, "You're becoming a sweet ruler, Vanellope."_

_She laughs. "Thanks, Dad."_

_He takes her hands in his. "I thought this day couldn't come soon enough, but it's finally here. Hoo hoo!" He releases her hands and turns to Sour Bill. "Fetch the royal scepter!" The ball of sour nods and clacks off._

_Royal scepter? Her dad only uses the royal scepter when something big is about to happen. "Why do you need the scepter?" she asks him._

_"You'll see." Sour Bill returns a moment later with the scepter. He gives it to the king, who turns to his beloved daughter. She curtsies and bows her head, as a princess ought. "You don't have to do that, Vanellope," he says._

_She rises, not sure what's going on. Usually, when the rightful ruler holds the scepter, the people are supposed to bow or curtsy or whatever. Her eyes widen when her father holds out the scepter to her. "Are you serious?" she breathes._

_"You're the best ruler – and racer, for that matter," he tells her. "You're even better than me." Chuckle._

_She tentatively reaches a hand out. She grabs the stick part of the lollipop scepter, taking it from her dad's hands. "You're really giving me this?"_

_"Well, you need it if you're going to be the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush."_

_Her eyes widen more. "I'm gonna be the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush?"_

_"Of course, my d-"_

_Vanellope wraps her arms around him in a tight hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She jumps back, admiring her new scepter. "We need to celebrate."_

_"Oh, my dear, I'd love to, but we can't race just yet. The Cakeway is still under construction."_

_"Well, then can we have a party?"_

_"A party?"_

_"Yeah. We could even invite people from other games. We could have it after the arcade closes, and we could have everyone come here to dance, and-"_

_He laughs. "So it's a party you want, is it? Well it's a party you'll get. It'll be your first official royal decree as the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush."_

_"Yay!" She spots the sour cough drop, looking gloomy as always. "Hey, Sour Bill! Do you wanna help us plan the party?"_

_He's taken aback. She's asking him to help? No one's ever done that before._

_"Could you, please?" Candy asks. Both royals make pouty faces._

_How can Sour Bill say no to that? Besides, he's the royal assistant. It's in his code to help (although no one ever gave him the choice before). "Why not?" he drones, though he does smile a little._

_"Yay!" Vanellope jumps around. "I'm gonna have a party, I'm gonna have a party, I'm gonna-"_

_DING DONG!_

_"Sour Bill," King Candy says. "Get the door."_

_"Mmm, 'kay." He click-clacks across the floor and opens the sugary door to reveal…Turbo._

_"Ah, my friend," King Candy says, walking forward. "How are you liking Sugar Rush?"_

_The pale racer steps inside. "Not bad, though I almost got hit by one of the falling pieces of the Cakeway tunnel."_

_"Oh, I'm so sorry you had to be there when that accident happened."_

_"Yeah, the, uh, accident. Caught me by surprise."_

_Vanellope can't help but think Turbo seems a little suspicious. She remembers the comment he made at the track yesterday about her going down. But she's too excited to pay much attention right now. "Guess what, Turbo! I'm gonna have a party!"_

_"A party! Yay!" he replies sarcastically. In his regular voice, he says, "I've never been one for parties."_

_"You must be there," Candy says. "If you're staying here for a little while, why not get to know the citizens better? And what better way than a party?"_

_"I'll consider it. Hey, Candy-" He slips an arm around the king's shoulders and leads him away from Vanellope, to the staircase on the other side, "-can I talk to you in your study about something? It'll be Turbo-tastic."_

_Vanellope watches her dad walk off with that racer. He does seem a little creepy and weird, but he couldn't really be that bad. "Come on, Sour Bill," she says to the assistant. "Let's go into the kitchen and make something. I'm hungry."_

_"Mmm, alright." They walk to the other staircase and make their way up to the kitchen._

* * *

Ralph looks down at his friend. When Vanellope collapsed, they brought her to her room in Sugar Palace. Now, he sits by her bed, wondering what he can do to help her.

"Is she awake yet?" Citrusella asks, walking over.

"Not yet." Right after he says that, Vanellope stirs and opens her eyes. "Kid."

She shoots up in bed. "Ralph! It was weird! I saw King Candy and Turbo again!"

Sour Bill clacks into the room, carrying a tray with four cups filled with punch. "Thirsty?" he asks in his monotone voice.

"Sourpuss," Vanellope says, "you said that you remember something about me and Candy throwing a party?"

"Mmm, yes."

"I think I just saw that moment."

"Really?" Citrusella says. "Like a flashback?" Vanellope tells everyone about her dream, including the part with Turbo. "Why would your dad say Turbo was his friend?"

"He's not my dad," Vanellope grumbles, though she doesn't quite believe that.

"I bet Turbo had something to do with the Cakeway tunnel," Ralph says.

"Why would he do that, though?" Citrusella asks.

"Attention. The arcade is about to open."

"Geez, I gotta get back to my game!" Ralph jumps to his feet, and as he runs out the door, he shouts, "I'll come back when the arcade closes!"

"We need to get to the track," Vanellope says. She, Citrusella, and Sour Bill sprint for Citrusella's kart. (It was the only way they got to the palace.) They hop in and drive hard to the starting line.

Citrusella glances at the president as she parks her kart in its spot. "Are you feeling up to racing today?"

For a bizarre reason, Vanellope remembers what King Candy told her in the dream she just had: "_You're the best ruler – and racer for that matter._"

"I'm racing."

* * *

King Candy cries out as he's punched backwards, sprawling on the ground. He glitches blue as Turbo stands over him, still glitching red between his usual self and King Candy's form. The old man tries to stand up, but his leg is badly injured. Pushing himself up to a sitting position, he glares at Turbo. "Go ahead and kill me," he says bravely.

Turbo just gives his famous wicked grin. "I could kill you now – but it would be more fun to make you watch your daughter's demise first," he sneers.

"Vanellope!"

Turbo grabs the king by his collar and brings him up to his eye level. Candy moans in pain, his bad leg dangling. "Won't it be nice," Turbo says, "to see your daughter again?"

"No-"

THUNK!

"Ow!" Turbo lets go of Candy and clutches his aching head. Candy scrambles back, but as he does, he notices a glint on the ground. A medal?

"Back away, Turbo!" Felix says in the bravest voice he can muster. Really, he's freaking out that Turbo's back, and he doesn't know why there's a second King Candy. In one hand, he swings a medal by the ribbon, preparing to throw it. He brought as many down with him as he could to use, since his hammer won't do much.

"Fix-It!" Turbo snarls. "Stay out of this!"

"I don't know how you came back, but get out of my game!" If Felix could, he'd run and go get Tammy to help, but she'd gone back to Hero's Duty to do some last minute rounds. Besides, he's scared to think of what Turbo would do to his game if he left.

Turbo takes a step towards Felix.

"Now!" the handyman shouts.

Pies fly through the windows as the Nicelanders appear in the windows. Felix had told them what he saw and what he was planning to do, and they were more than willing to help. Turbo tries to cover himself, but he's still bombarded with fresh hot pies. Felix runs over to the blue-glitching King Candy and drags him aside. "You seem pretty beat up, sir," he says.

"Thank you so much," Candy says. "You just saved my life."

Felix, feeling really awkward in this situation, changes the subject. "Did you say Vanellope was your daughter?"

"She is. We were together the first week our game was opened, but then he-" he points at Turbo, "-took over and ruined everything!"

Soon, the pies run out. Turbo straightens and spits out bits of cherry pie. His eyes narrow. "You think a little pie can stop me?" Felix throws the medal, but Turbo catches it and throws it to the side. "No more tricks, Fix-It!"

"Attention. The arcade is about to open."

"Get out of this game, Turbo," Felix says, stepping in front of King Candy and drawing his hammer. "And stay gone."

Turbo's eyes flicker to King Candy, then back to Felix. "Fine, Fix-It. I'll go – but I'm coming back for him." He points to the king, who crawls back more. Turbo then turns and runs to the tram, disappearing down the cord.

"Please, don't let him take me!" Candy begs. "He'll kill Vanellope! I-"

"Calm down, sir," Felix says. "You're safe here. But why does he want you so bad?"

"It's because of how my game's programmed. He only kept me around because he needed me, but now it doesn't seem like that anymore. We have to stop him." He tries to get to his feet, but he drops to the ground and cries out in pain, forgetting his bad leg. "I think my leg is broken."

Felix holds up his golden hammer. "I can fix it." With a couple taps, Candy can walk again, though he's still sore.

Ralph comes running up to them. "Felix!" he huffs. "I saw Turbo!"

"So did I, and-"

"No, I mean I saw him in Game Central Station! I was running out of Sugar Rush when I saw him leave our game and head into Hero's Duty!"

"Tammy!" Felix says. "She doesn't know Turbo's back!"

"He's probably after the cy-bug eggs!"

"Pardon me," King Candy speaks up, "but what are cy-bugs?" The good guy and bad guy tell the king about what happened almost a year ago as they help him into the apartment complex, where he can stay for now.


	10. What a Day

The gamers at Litwak's Arcade notice something going on with a few of the games when they go in to play. When they play Sugar Rush, Vanellope fumbles during her speech, saying something about "Dad." Some of the kids who play Fix It, Felix Jr. notice flashes of blue in one of the windows. And people playing Hero's Duty see something red flicker and Sergeant Calhoun turn away from the first person shooter to deal with the red flicker off-screen. Since nothing is seriously wrong with the games, the kids don't mention anything to Mr. Litwak, though they all wonder what's going on with the games.

Finally, the last person leaves, and Mr. Litwak closes the arcade. Everyone in Hero's Duty relaxes – except for Sergeant Calhoun. She recognized Turbo the minute she saw him. She isn't sure how he's back, but she wouldn't mind getting rid of him again. He seemed to be after the eggs, but when she shot in his direction, he screamed and jumped out of the way. She had to abandon her post with the first shooter a few times (much to her annoyance) to keep him from snatching an egg. Some of the other soldiers noticed him, too, and fired at him. Turbo eventually ran off, probably to hide from everyone, and she hasn't seen him since.

"Hey, boss," Kohut says, coming over, "what was that red thing?"

"Yeah, I saw it, too," Patten says.

Calhoun narrows her eyes. "Turbo," she mutters. "The selfish man is like a virus, I swear. If I see his face again-"

BOING! BOING!

"Hold your fire!" Calhoun says to the soldiers cocking their weapons. She'd recognize that sound anywhere.

Sure enough, Felix comes bounding into the game. "Tammy!" he calls out.

Calhoun runs to him. "Felix! What are you doing here? It's not safe!"

"I had to warn you! Turbo's back and he came into your game!"

"I saw him," Calhoun seethes, keeping one hand on her shooter. "He was trying to swipe some eggs."

"Ralph thought he would try to do that. He didn't, um, get eaten by a cy-bug, did he?"

"If he did, no one saw him."

Felix sighs in relief. "Ralph said last time he was eaten by a cy-bug and wanted to take over the whole arcade."

Calhoun cocks her shooter. "Not on my watch."

"AHHHHHH!"

Everyone watches Markowski come running up to them. "I saw someone by the door to the tower!" he cries. "He changed back and forth between two different people! And he was flashing red!"

"Turbo! Alright, men," Calhoun says, "let's go get that game-jumper." They make their way to the door, becoming sneakier the closer they get. Felix keeps tight to Calhoun.

A flash of red appears to the side of the door.

The space marines open fire, and Turbo runs out. He's a fast runner, but he's not a great dodger, and all the gunfire makes him glitch more between his real self and his Candy self. A blast right by him knocks him off his feet and sends him flying through the air. When he lands on the ground, Calhoun goes over and steps on his chest, pointing the barrel of her shooter at his head. His eyes are wide with fear. "Please!" he shouts, holding his hands up. "Don't kill me!"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't," Calhoun spits.

"Well, uh…" He looks around nervously, trying to think up a reason. His eyes spot Felix, and they narrow upon recognition. "Fix-It!" He glitches away from Calhoun right next to Felix, and grabs him and uses him as a shield.

"Hey, let me go!" Felix shouts, trying his best to yank away. Turbo just hangs on tight.

Calhoun aims her shooter at Turbo – but with Felix in the way, she's hesitant to pull the trigger. Felix is starting to glitch due to Turbo's glitching, though Felix's is blue.

"Tell me where the cy-bug eggs are," Turbo says, "and I'll let him go!"

"No, Tammy!" Felix says, still struggling to get away. "Don't help him!"

Her eyes soften as she looks at her husband, wanting to help him.

Turbo sees this and his eyes gleam maliciously. "Which is it, Sergeant: the eggs or Fix-It?"

"Don't listen to him!" Felix shouts, trying to hide the fear in his voice. "I'm not worth it!"

Calhoun's finger trembles against the trigger as she considers the options. Finally, she sighs and lowers her weapon.

* * *

King Candy sits on the couch, avoiding looking directly at Gene, who's sitting on the other end of the couch. "So," he starts, "this is a nice game."

"Yeah," Gene says. "It is."

Awkward silence.

"Want some pie?" Gene asks.

"No, thank you."

So it goes. Ralph had to run and find Daisy and Peach and talk to them about his plans before running off to check on Vanellope, and Felix had gone to Hero's Duty to warn everyone of Turbo's threat. The Nicelanders were told to keep King Candy company until either Ralph or Felix got back. Of course, most of the Nicelanders were wary of the king, so they elected Gene to keep him company.

Gene crosses his arms and grumbles.

"What's wrong?" Candy asks.

"This is not how I wanted to spend my game's anniversary."

"Oh, happy anniversary!"

"Thanks."

King Candy finally looks at Gene and says, "I've never celebrated an anniversary. What's it like? What do you do?"

Gene looks at him in surprise. "You've never celebrated an anniversary before?"

"No, I only got to play in my game for a week before I was thrown into the fungeon."

"Fungeon?"

"Fun dungeon. Trust me, it's not very fun."

Gene feels sorry for the guy. He can't imagine not celebrating a game's anniversary, not being able to eat cake or see fireworks or dance. Gene tells King Candy all about the anniversary parties for Fix It, Felix Jr., including last year's when Ralph showed up. Only now does Gene feel guilty about keeping Ralph out of their parties.

King Candy has a wistful look on his face. "Vanellope would love those kinds of parties," he says.

"She was the glitch, right?"

He nods. "Turbo made her a glitch, and there was nothing I could do but watch in horror." He smiles a little. "Before Turbo reprogrammed our game, Vanellope was planning a party to honor her being made the rightful ruler. She was always the rightful ruler, but it wasn't made official until I gave her the royal scepter. She planned to invite people from all across the arcade." He chuckles sadly, then frowns. "I doubt she got to have that party, what with that _monster_ taking over."

Gene thinks about what Ralph had told them all just after saving the arcade last year. The kid had had a tough life, being kept out of all the fun stuff. No wonder Ralph has those plans. "Hey, Your Majesty," Gene says, "did Ralph ever tell you his great idea?"

"No, why?"

* * *

As everyone's getting ready for the Random Roster Race, Vanellope looks up at the jumbotron. Everyone has already given one of their coins and is doing last-minute checks on their karts. Everyone's name is on the jumbotron – but there's still a space at the bottom for one more. What name is missing? There's her, Taffyta, Rancis, Candlehead, Citrusella, Gloyd…oh, wait. King Candy. _Maybe he really is a racer_.

She shakes her head. No distractions. "Let the race begin!" she shouts as the countdown begins. When the light hits green, she zooms down the road. When she comes to the Cakeway portion of the race, she can't help but glance at the tunnel as she drives through. It looks good as new. She continues along the track, but when she comes to the Ice Cream Mountains, images of her first flashback come to mind, and she can picture herself racing against King Candy. "Come on, Vanellope," she mutters to herself. "No distractions." She continues along the track. She can see the finish line up ahead.

But something appears in her way.

"Ahhh!" She steps on the brake and swerves sharply to the side, getting stuck in the lollipop fields. She watches from her kart as nine racers cross the finish line first. This is the first time she didn't win the roster race. She growls, climbing out of the kart. The thing that had appeared in her way floats over to her. It's an electric blue note.

Vanellope's bitterness at not winning the race goes away. Only the surge protector could have sent her that note. Is he okay? She snatches it out of the air and reads: "Vanellope, the King Candys have escaped. One knocked me out, and they both were accidentally sent to Fix It, Felix Jr. I'm better now, but I couldn't stop Turbo/Candy from running into Hero's Duty. Who knows what he's doing to that game? Also, I watched the moments from when the Candys escaped to when the arcade opened, so I know about your father."

_Great_, Vanellope thinks. She continues reading: "I looked around the archiving code for anything relating to the early days of Sugar Rush or relating to you and King Candy, and I found some things you might want a look at. When you can, come to Game Central Station. I'll meet you at the entrance to Sugar Rush."

"Your Presidency!" Citrusella calls out as she and some of the racers run up to Vanellope. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She takes a look at her kart. "But I'm gonna need some help gettin' this out."

"What's that?" Gloyd asks, pointing at the paper in Vanellope's hand.

"Uh, it's a note from the surge protector. He wants to talk to me about something."

"Is everything okay?" Taffyta asks. Everyone starts asking questions about their game and if it's safe or not.

Vanellope glances at Citrusella, who immediately knows everything's not okay. Sour Bill makes his way to her, his usual sour expression replaced with worry. "Is it about _him_?" he mutters so only he and the president can hear.

She nods. As she makes her way to the track, she says, "Sour Bill, you and Citrusella help get my kart out and take care of things while I'm gone. I'll be back as soon as I can!" She takes off running for the terminal, hurrying to see Mister Sparks.


	11. A Look into the Past

**A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed/favorited/followed! :) Please continue to R&R!**

BEEP! BEEP!

"Ah, Vanellope," the surge protector says as he appears at the entrance to Sugar Rush. "I see you got my letter."

"Yeah," she says, "but you made me crash into lollipops."

He grimaces. "My apologies. When I send a notice into a game, I can't see where it directly goes. I only know the general area of where it goes. So, are you ready?" She nods, a determined look on her face. "Very well. Hold on tight."

ZAP!

"Ow!" She lets go of his hand so she can shake hers out. "You really need a new entrance."

He leads her to the middle of the room. "What you're about to see," he tells her, "may come as a shock to you." He goes over to the wall and taps a sequence of lights.

A pixel ball appears in the middle of the room. Vanellope watches as an image form inside. It's Tapper's. A man in a purple jacket, yellow puffy pants, and red bow tie walks in. He takes the crown off his balding head and sets it on the counter as he takes a seat. "Hello, sir," says Tapper. "What will it be?"

"Your finest root beer, please," says King Candy. As he drinks his soda, he chats congenially with the other characters around him.

"I've never seen you before," says Mario. "Where are you from?"

"I'm from Sugar Rush. We just got plugged in today."

"Welcome," everyone tells the king. He chats a little longer, then places the crown on his head and bids everyone farewell. He makes his way outside.

He trips over a bundle of white and red. "Oh, I'm so sorry," Turbo says, looking apologetic and humble.

"It's okay," Candy says as he helps the character up. "What are you doing out here? You should go inside and have a nice drink."

Turbo quickly refuses. "Oh, no, I couldn't. They wouldn't want someone like me."

"Nonsense. Why wouldn't they?"

"My game was unplugged, so now I wander around, homeless."

"Oh, you poor fellow!" King Candy says. "And no one helps you? Shame on them."

Turbo changes the subject. "I couldn't help but overhear, though. You said you're from that new game?"

King Candy grips the lapels of his jacket and beams proudly. "Exactly. It's a racing game. Hoo hoo!" He jumps in excitement.

The rogue racer gets excited, too. "Really? My game was a racing game, too."

"What a small world."

"Hey, mind if I come by your game and check it out – maybe race a little?"

"Why not? It'll be fun! You could meet my daughter, Vanellope. It's only been the first day, and yet she's the best racer ever."

Turbo's face twitches. "Are you sure she's the 'best racer ever?'"

"Come over right now and see for yourself."

"Alright. I will." Turbo grabs a cloak he had hidden nearby. When he sees the king's expression, he says, "No one likes me, so I hide who I am."

The scene fades to one of Vanellope and Turbo racing. They glance at each other as they zoom along. Vanellope crosses the finish line first. Everyone cheers and comes forward. The two racers hop out of their karts, Vanellope from the white kart and Turbo from Candy's purple and yellow kart. The king comes forward and hugs his daughter, congratulating her and his new friend on a good race, Vanellope acting a little smug in her victory. When the commotion dies down, Turbo grumbles, "You are a good racer."

"Thanks," Vanellope says. "Racing's in my code."

"But where's the trophy? Or medal?"

King Candy laughs. "There are no prizes in this race."

"Really?" Turbo says, not believing it. "Then, what's the point of racing?"

"We just race to have fun," Vanellope tells him.

Candy hugs her to him. "My little girl and I plan to do it every day."

"I see…"

"Let's go back to the palace," Vanellope says. "I'm hungry." Her father laughs as Turbo rolls his eyes and everyone gets into the karts and drives off.

The next scene shows King Candy sitting behind a chocolate bar desk, drinking a cup of punch while Turbo sits before him in a pretzel-and-graham cracker chair. "I hope your room is to your liking," Candy says.

"Yeah, thanks. You've been kind." Turbo leans forward. "So, you and your daughter seem pretty close."

Candy smiles. "Yes, we are." He sets his cup down and leans back in his chair. "She reminds me of her mother. I know our backstories are just programmed and didn't actually happen, but I remember when she was first born. We were so happy." His smile fades. "Her mother died shortly after. I took care of Vanellope and raised her to be a good princess." He looks at Turbo. "She went beyond what I was expecting. She learned to race before she even learned to walk, she helped me with my duties whenever she saw I was busy or stressed. It's no wonder she's the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush."

"Wait," Turbo interrupts. "I thought you were the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush. You're the king."

King Candy shakes his head. "I may be king, but Vanellope's the rightful ruler. Everyone in the game knows that."

Turbo makes a face. "Funny, when I talked to her earlier, she said you were the rightful ruler."

"Such a sweet girl. I have the royal scepter, true, but I'm giving it to her soon," Candy explains. "Ho ho! Then it'll be official."

"Great," Turbo says, glaring off to the side.

The next scene shows Vanellope racing with her dad. They zoom through the Ice Cream Mountains, and Candy pulls ahead, but Vanellope slips past and wins. Everyone congratulates her and comments how it's only been a week. (_Just like in my dream_, she thinks.) Vanellope smiles, but it fades when she spots Turbo behind the stands uttering, "You're going down, Princess."

"Vanellope?" King Candy says. "What is it, my dear?"

"I thought I saw Turbo, and it seemed like he said-"

"Well done, Princess!" the said racer cheers, pushing his way through the crowd. "As usual, you are a good racer."

"I'm the best racer ever!" she says.

Turbo stiffens. When everyone's gone, Turbo grabs Candy's arm and pulls him away from Vanellope. "Listen, Candy, I need to talk to you about something."

"Hey, Dad!" Vanellope shouts. "Race you to Sugar Palace!"

King Candy, who can't resist this race, says, "Maybe later, Turbo."

"When? Either you're helping your subjects or you're racing your daughter."

"I'll find time for you, my friend. Don't worry!" King Candy hops into his kart and he and Vanellope race towards Sugar Palace.

Turbo grumbles, putting his hands in his pockets. His eyes trail until they spot Cakeway in the distance. His eyes narrow as a wicked grin spreads across his face. "You won't be racing tomorrow, Candy," he says.

Now, it shows Turbo holding a lit candle and climbing Cakeway to the tunnel part. He takes a nearby cherry and puts it in the middle of the tunnel, touching the flame to the cherry's stem. Once it's lit, he dashes back down the Cakeway path, but the cherry bomb goes off before he can get far enough away. The impact sends him flying off the top part and landing on the ground. He moans in pain, slowly sitting up. Pieces of the tunnel are scattered around him. Grinning at his work, Turbo gets to his feet and runs back to Sugar Palace, avoiding the gossiping citizens. He rings the doorbell, and eventually Sour Bill answers the door.

"Ah, my friend," King Candy says, walking forward. "How are you liking Sugar Rush?"

The pale racer steps inside. "Not bad, though I almost got hit by one of the falling pieces of the Cakeway tunnel."

"Oh, I'm so sorry you had to be there when that accident happened."

"Yeah, the, uh, accident. Caught me by surprise."

Vanellope blurts out, "Guess what, Turbo! I'm gonna have a party!"

The rest of the scene plays out like Vanellope's second dream, only it continues after Turbo leads the king away to talk in his study. Once the pair is inside, Turbo cuts to the chase. "I want to be a part of your game."

King Candy is taken aback. "What?"

"Candy, I miss racing, and though you let me watch the races and do a couple after hours, I want to race with everyone else."

"Turbo, I can't do that. You can only race if you're a part of the game."

"Can't you do something? Add a code, maybe?"

Candy thinks for a moment. "I guess you could share a code with someone. Codes can't be deleted or added completely; they can only be changed."

"How about you? I could share with you."

The old man's eyes couldn't get any wider. "What?"

"You're a good racer, I'm a good racer. It makes sense. Besides, I thought we were friends."

"We are friends, but this is a serious situation. Nothing like this has ever been done before. Besides, you aren't sugar-themed, so it would be obvious to the gamers you're not from this game."

"So give me a costume!" Turbo's patience is wearing thin.

King Candy looks angry. "Look, Turbo, as much as I'd like to help you, I can't. I know you miss being part of a game, and I don't blame you, but-"

"You listen to me, old man!" Turbo spits. He comes up to Candy and pokes him. "I _will_ race again, and I _will_ be part of this game! It's the only kart game in this arcade, and I will not just stand around in the shadows while some puffy-pants king and his bratty daughter race to their hearts' content!" He tackles the king to the ground.

"Are you crazy?" Candy says, wrestling with the rogue racer.

The door opens to show Sour Bill. "Sir, I-" He stops and stare wide-eyed at the scene before him. "Uh…"

"Sour Bill!" Candy cries. "Call the guards! Destroy my kart! We can't give this man a chance to race!" Sour Bill scampers off as Candy kicks Turbo off of him. "Get out of my game!"

"Never," Turbo growls, getting to his feet and running out the door.

"Get back here!" The king chases the racer down the hallway as sounds of a kart breaking can be heard.

They run into the throne room, and Turbo suddenly comes to a stop. Candy follows his gaze to the throne – Vanellope's white kart. "Since your kart's out of commission," Turbo says, "I can always take your daughter's."

"No!" The men get ready to face off again.

"Dad?" Looking up at the staircase, they see Vanellope standing there.

Turbo takes a step toward the princess, but is knocked down by Candy. "Vanellope, run!"

She just stands there, looking horrified and confused. "Dad-"

"Vanellope, my dear! You must run! Run away!"

Only then does she listen. She runs up the stairs and down the hallway until she comes to her room. "Stupid dress," she growls when she almost trips on the skirt. She slams the door shut and barricades it with a peppermint bark chair. She runs to her closet and quickly changes from her princess dress to her favorite outfit: a mint green hoodie, a brown candy wrapper skirt, mismatched leggings, and black boots. She shoves her dress, tiara, and scepter into the closet. Her hair falls out of the bun and into a ponytail as she opens her bedroom window and looks down, judging the distance. She grabs a licorice rope from a nearby curtain and uses it to lower herself partway to the ground. She jumps the rest of the way, scrambles to her feet, and takes off running.

There's banging at the door, and finally Turbo breaks his way in. "No!" he yells, running to the window. It's too late. Vanellope's gone.

Candy runs into the room, and he nearly collapses in a huff when he sees his daughter's managed to escape. He smiles and pants, "She got away."

Turbo, in his anger, takes advantage of the king's exhaustion, grabbing the licorice rope and tying him up. "You won't be so lucky as that little _brat_," he spits, tightening the rope.

"You can't do a thing to hurt her, Turbo," Candy says. "She's gone."

"That may be." Turbo leans closer to the king. "But she's still a little girl, Candy. Sooner or later, she'll come back for her father. And when she does…" He leaves the sentence hanging in the air.

Candy blanches. "You wouldn't."

"I would."

"But she'll regenerate. You can't eliminate her. It won't work."

"Well, then I'll kill her every time she respawns."

"Not my little girl! Please, I can't bear seeing her suffer!"

Turbo's eyes narrow. "Make me a part of the game," he snarls.

"Is that what you want?"

"That's all I want."

"…Fine."

Vanellope watches the pixel ball in horror as Turbo gets King Candy to reveal the hidden location of the code room. He drags the king along as they make their way there. Along the way, they find Sour Bill, who just came back from warning the guards. "Your Majesty!" he says.

"Sour Bill! Save yourself!"

The cough drop tries to escape, but Turbo tackles him to the ground. Turbo spots a chest nearby, picks up the squirming ball of sour, and drops him inside, slamming the top part shut. He drags both of his prisoners through the throne room to the white part behind the curtains. The automatic doors open, and Turbo shoves both king and chest inside.

"Alright, Candy," he says, "how do I get in?"

He hesitates before muttering, "Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start."

The rogue racer taps in the code, and the console parts like automatic doors to reveal the black space with glowing code. He opens the chest and dumps Sour Bill out, then ties what's left of the licorice rope around his waist and jumps into the no-gravity zone with the chest. The two Sugar rush characters watch in horror as Turbo swims to the code. He's like a kid at Christmas, grinning at all the code boxes. "Aha!" he says, swimming closer to one. "King Candy." He taps the box twice, and it opens up.

"If you're going to kill me," Candy shouts, "just get it over with!"

"Ah," Turbo says, turning to the old man, "but I still need you. Like you said, I can't be added into this game, but I can share a code with you. That way, I can be an official racer!" He touches the icon in the middle of the box, and his appearance pixelates until he resembles King Candy. "Success!" he cries as the code box doubles in size. He turns to the original Candy. "How do I look?"

"You monster!"

Turbo/Candy shrugs it off and continues on, searching for another code box. He finds it. "Vanellope von Schweets," he reads. King Candy and Sour Bill cry out in horror as Turbo/Candy proceeds to unplug Vanellope's box from the game, pushing it out of the group of code.

"What have you done?" King Candy screams.

"I'm just deleting your daughter from the game. Now, she'll never be the rightful ruler, and the only one left to rule-" he smirks, "-is me."

"No!" Candy says, struggling against the licorice. "You can't do this! People will remember who the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush really is."

"You're right. Thank you for reminding me." Turbo swims over to the chest and carries it with him over to two boxes marked "Racers' Memory" and "Citizens' Memory." He shuts them up tight in the chest, then pulls himself along the rope back to the white room.

Sparkles appear around Sour Bill's head, and he holds his head in pain. Before the cough drop realizes it, Turbo/Candy is back in the room and he shoves Sour Bill out the doors into the hallway. The doors shut as Turbo/Candy turns to the real Candy. "Now," he says, tapping one finger to his chin, "what to do with you? How about that fungeon I heard about?"

Candy's eyes widen in horror. "No-"

"Yes, I think that'll work. But since I can't have anybody see you…" Turbo/Candy unties the licorice rope from around his waist and anchors the ex-king to one of the blue wires.

"You'll never get away with this!"

"I think I have," Turbo/Candy smirks.

"Just wait 'til I reset the game, then you'll – mmph!"

Turbo/Candy takes the bow tie off of the real Candy and uses it as a gag. "I'll come back for you later," he says, leaving the code room. "Hello, Sour Bill," he cheerfully tells the little ball of sour, the automatic doors shutting behind him.

Sour Bill rubs his head. "What happened?" he drones.

"Oh, I just took care of some business. By the way, do you remember how you got here?"

Sour Bill stares at the ground for a moment before answering, "No."

"Excellent! Hoo hoo! Now, let's get out of here."

The next scene is the first memory Vanellope ever had: the day she found out she was a glitch. It hurts to watch it again. Following is a scene of King Candy in the fungeon. He looks horrible: clothes ruffled, crown tarnishing in the corner, hair matted. He leans against the wall with a look of sheer exhaustion and weakness.

The door to his cell opens, and light floods the semi-darkness of the tiny room. Candy blinks and squints into the light. Turbo/Candy strides into the cell. "Enjoying ourselves, are we?" he says.

"What do you want, Turbo?" Candy sounds worn out.

"Aren't I allowed to visit an old friend? Guess not," he says when Candy glares at him. "That's not the only reason I came. Look what I found among the trash." He tosses a pink tiara inside.

Candy's eyes widen and he reaches out for the tiara. He gazes at it in sorrow. "Vanellope," he whispers.

"I'm surprised it didn't disappear along with the rest of that little brat," the fake king grumbles.

Candy tries to look angry, but his watery eyes and trembling lip betray his emotions. "How could you? How could you delete her?"

Turbo/Candy leans closer to the fatigued man and sneers, "I always get what I want, Candy, no matter what."

"But she was just a little girl!"

"She was in my way. I couldn't give her a chance to undo all my hardwork."

Candy hangs his head. He chokes back a sob, a tear trailing down his cheek and falling onto the tiara in his hands. "My poor little girl."

Turbo/Candy rolls his eyes and scoffs, "It's been five years since I unplugged your daughter. Get over it already!"

"You don't understand," Candy says, wiping his eyes. "You've never had a child. There's nothing that can replace the hole in your heart." Vanellope tears up a bit watching this scene.

The rogue racer just steps out of the cell, only to return with a small plate with a caramel apple, a sugar plum, and a handful of jelly beans. "Here, you better eat up. I still need you alive." That's the last thing he says before slamming the cell door shut and locking it.

Candy crawls over to the food. He hungrily looks at it all, and he picks up the caramel apple and is about to take a bite.

A pattering sound can be heard approaching. "Mmm, hello?"

He freezes, the apple halfway to his mouth. Dropping the apple, he stumbles to the cell, grabs the bars, and shouts, "Help! Sour Bill, help!"

The cough drop clacks into view. He stares in horror at the sight of King Candy locked up. "How did you get in there?" he asks, pattering over.

"I was tricked by that _wicked monster_," he spits. "Hurry, you have to let me out so I can reset the game!"

Sour Bill puts a hand on the lock – when the other King Candy rounds a corner. "Sour Bill!" he yells. "Step away from that cell!"

The sourpuss looks from one Candy to the other. "How-"

"Leave that prisoner in the cell!" Turbo/Candy storms over to the two. "He'll just help the glitch!"

"Glitch?" ex-King Candy repeats. "There aren't any glitches in Sugar Rush."

"See? He's obviously trying to trick you. No doubt he's conspiring with the glitch!"

Sour Bill looks confused. "I thought Vanellope couldn't get in here."

"Vanellope?!" ex-King Candy echoes in disbelief.

"_Sour Bill!_" Turbo/Candy hisses. "I thought I told you never to mention the glitch by name!"

"Vanellope's a glitch?" the old man says, horrified.

With one last glare at his doppelganger, Turbo/Candy says, "Let's get out of here, Sour Bill."

"No! I need to reset the game! I have to save Vanellope!"

Turbo/Candy grabs the little ball of sour and drags him out of the fungeon, the whole while ex-King Candy screams for someone to let him out to reset the game.

Next is the boss battle in Sugar Rush. Even though Vanellope's already seen it before, she watches it with fresh eyes as Ralph sacrifices himself for her. Following this is an image of Ralph and Felix back inside their game. "That was an amazing thing you did back there, Ralph," Felix says to his new friend.

Ralph smiles. "Thanks, Felix. I just couldn't let anything happen to Vanellope."

"She's lucky to have a friend like you, brother."

Nod. "I wish I could do something for her." His face brightens as an idea comes to mind. "I got it, though I'm gonna need some help."

"Anything, Ralph."

The pixel ball flickers to another moment before Vanellope can find out what Ralph was planning. This time, he's in Tapper's talking to heroes, villains, and extras alike. "I think I know how I'm gonna give it to her," he tells them.

"Good for you, Ralph," Zangief says. "You've been planning this for long time."

"There's just one problem: how am I gonna make the gift? I'm not good at making things." (_He's making me a gift?_)

"I'm sure she'll like anything you make her," Luigi says.

"What are you thinking about making?" Sonic asks.

Ralph rubs the back of his neck. "I'm not sure. I don't know what she likes. I haven't seen her in a while."

"You don't think she's upset that you're not spending as much time with her, do you?" Satan asks.

"No, I don't think so," Ralph says with an assuring grin.

Just then, Vanellope and Kairi walk into Tapper's. Vanellope looks shocked seeing Ralph talking to a group of characters. "Ralph?" she whispers.

Ralph's face falls. "Kid." Everyone turns to see the girls standing in the doorway and look away, some whistling innocently. The little racer runs out of the pub, and Ralph rushes to follow her.

The image fades to Ralph in his house. He's sitting glumly on his bed, staring at the cookie medal in his hands. Someone knocks at his door. "Kid?" Hopeful, he rises to his feet and goes and answers the door. "Um, who are you?"

"I'm Citrusella Flugpucker," she says. "I wanted to talk to you about Vanellope."

"Come on in." Ralph offers the racer pie, but she politely declines. "What's wrong with Vanellope?"

"Nothing, Mr. Ralph. She's fine. She's really nice. She let me take her spot in the game today!"

Ralph's jaw drops. "Really? She never does that!"

"I know!" Citrusella says. "I wanted to do something nice for her in return, though she wouldn't take my gold coin. I thought you might have some ideas."

"Well, I do have something." A piece of the roof falls and almost hits Citrusella. She yelps and jumps out of the way. "Oops, sorry about that," he says, picking up the piece. "Some of the roofs are falling apart, and we're waiting for Felix to get back from fixing the karts before he can fix 'em."

"Right, Vanellope and Taffyta crashed."

"Oh, almost forgot to tell you," Ralph says. "I'm planning something for Vanellope, and I'd like you to be part of it."

Citrusella smiles. "Anything for the president."

"First, do you know anything she'd like? I'm gonna try to make her something, but I don't know what she'd really like."

"Anything but sugar. She's got plenty of that already." They laugh – at the same time Vanellope's face appears in the window. At the sight of them, she looks hurt, and she runs away with tears forming in her eyes.

"That's not the only thing I have planned for her."

"Really, what else?"

Again, the scene is cut off as another moment comes into view, Vanellope looking at the archiving code, the surge protector appearing and startling her. Both King Candy and Turbo/Candy appear in the room. The real Candy is happy to see Vanellope, who looks terrified and confused. Candy looks heartbroken, wondering why his little girl isn't happy to see him. Turbo/Candy doesn't care; he just wants to take over the arcade. After the surge protector sends Vanellope through the portal, the pixel ball flashes and disappears pixel by pixel.

The president is silent, absorbing all this. "Are you okay?" the surge protector asks.

Vanellope doesn't answer, so many thoughts screaming for attention in her mind. "I do have a dad," she finally says. "And Ralph does care about me. He wasn't being mean. And he's making me a gift?" She twiddles her fingers shyly. "I never gave him anything."

"What about that cookie medal? Ralph is very proud of that."

She ducks her head. "And Citrusella was just trying to help the whole time." Turning to Mr. Sparks, she says, "What happens if Turbo gets them?"

"He's not going to get them. As far as I know, he doesn't have any means of doing serious harm to them."

BEEP! BEEP!

"Time to go," the surge protector says, grabbing Vanellope's arm and transporting the two of them to Game Central Station.

"Kid!" Ralph cries, scooping the girl up and squeezing her in a hug. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Ralph!" Vanellope returns the hug, tears forming in her eyes. She loves her friend now more than ever after seeing everything he's done for her.

The surge protector smiles at this lovely picture. He's not one to show his emotions, but who could resist seeing these two?

The moment is ruined as a space marine runs out of Hero's Duty. He spots the small group and hurries over. "Wreck-It Ralph!" he says. "We need your help!"

The wrecker sets the kid down. "What is it?"

"Turbo's got Felix, and he wants the cy-bug eggs!"

"WHAT?!" everyone screams, not caring that they're drawing everyone else's gazes towards them.

"Calhoun is leading him to the top floor. She left us all behind so one of us could sneak away to come find you."

"I'm in," Ralph says, clenching his fists.

"Me too!" The small party watches King Candy race from Fix It, Felix Jr. to where they're standing. "Look," he says to Ralph and Vanellope, "it's my fault Turbo took over Sugar Rush in the first place. I let him trick me into believing he was good. Please, give me a chance to set things right!"

Ralph opens his mouth to say something, but Vanellope steps forward and says, "It's not your fault. He's just a dummy-gummy. But we can use all the help we can get, Dad."

King Candy smiles.

An idea pops into Vanellope's head. "Hey, Mister Sparks, think you can bring back a couple karts for us?"


	12. Cy-Bug Eggs

Felix tries one more time to break free from Turbo, but his grip on his arm is just too strong. Any tighter and Felix's arm would fall off.

"How much longer?" the impatient racer groans. He still flickers red between his two selves.

Calhoun doesn't even look over her shoulder as she replies, "We're almost there." Truth be told, she's taking the long way there. The quickest way would have been to take the elevator that the marines use to catch up with the first player shooter. Instead, Calhoun has them taking the stairs, walking down the longest hallways possible, and basically going in circles. Only a true Hero's Duty soldier would know that, but she told all the soldiers to stay behind (hopefully to get help).

Unfortunately, they are nearing their destination. Calhoun can't delay it any more. She has to find a way to get Felix out of here, even if there won't be any backup.

"Here's the door," she says as they come up to a pair of tarnished, black metal automatic doors. She turns to the little megalomaniac. "Alright, Turbo, let Felix go!"

"Not so fast, pretty lady," he says. "How do I know this is the right room and you won't just leave with Fix-It?"

Calhoun and Turbo have a staring contest, but with a defeated sigh, Calhoun opens the doors, revealing dozens and dozens of eggs scattered about the floor.

Turbo's eyes widen as he makes his way into the room, dragging Felix along with him. It's not until he's right near an egg he lets the handyman go so he can pick it up.

"Tammy!" Felix shouts, running to the comfort of his wife's arms.

She hugs him tight, refusing to allow any of the tears stinging her eyes to escape. She has to be strong. She can cry alone in her room later, when all this is done.

The egg glows green and dissolves away to reveal a little cy-bug baby. At first glance, it looks adorable, with big round green eyes and a ball-like body with little legs. But then its programmed nature kicks in, and it jumps onto Turbo's face. He manages to pry it off and throw it at the couple. "Back, you bug!" Felix says, hitting it with its hammer.

It flashes twice and doubles in size.

"Why do I fix everything I touch?" he sobs.

Calhoun takes out her pistol and shoots. The cy-bug screeches and scurries back, but baby cy-bugs are in the way as Turbo activates every single egg in the room. The bigger cy-bug trips and falls onto its back, its legs wiggling as it struggles to get back up. Calhoun spots an escape pod. "Felix! Stay close to me!" she hisses. Step by step, they circle around the bugs, hoping to make it to their escape.

A cy-bug is thrown into their path, and they halt. It starts munching on the inside of the pod as more and more cy-bugs than Calhoun can shoot land inside the pod. "Where do you think you're going?" Turbo/Candy snarls. He picks up another baby bug, preparing to throw it.

SMASH!

Glass shards fly everywhere as Ralph climbs through the broken wall. "Felix! Calhoun!" he says.

"Ralph!" Felix says happily.

"Wreck-It!" Turbo/Candy growls. The cy-bugs around him begin growing and maturing, becoming more lethal. "You won't be so lucky this time, Ralph!" The baby cy-bug in his hand doubles in size, overpowering Turbo. He sinks to the floor, but instead of being crushed under the bug's weight, the bug picks him up with its claw and brings him to its mouth.

The heroes look away from the ghastly sight and meet up with each other. "Wreck-It, the escape pod's blocked," Calhoun says, "and I don't have my cruiser. There's no way out."

"Actually, there is." The huge man points to the hole in the glass wall.

"Are you crazy, soldier?"

"Ralph," Felix says, "we'll never survive the fall!"

"Trust me!" Ralph punches a cy-bug, and it disappears. He then grabs Felix and Calhoun and, holding them under his arms, runs and jumps out the hole. They all scream, "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Something blue appears beneath them and catches them halfway down the tower. "Don't worry!" Vanellope says. "I've got it under control!" She glitches twice more, and they're back on the ground, driving away from the tower as the swarm of bugs escapes.

"How did you do that?" Felix asks, still recovering from the shock of being carried out of a hole in the wall of a huge tower.

She explains, "I had to find a ramp and glitch all the way up."

"Hey, kid," Ralph says, looking at what they're riding in, "this isn't your kart. This one's white."

"It was my kart until Turbo took it from me." She screeches to a stop by the space marines and King Candy with his own purple and yellow kart.

"Looks like everyone's here," Kohut says. "Let's go."

"Wait!" Felix says. "What about the cy-bugs?"

"Don't worry about them," Calhoun says. "Little does Turbo know that we put the beacon on an emergency setting. If a bug strays too far from the tower when the game's not being played, it will go off."

As if on cue, the blue light shoots up from the roof, and the bugs fly mesmerized into the light. When the last of the swarm is fried, the beacon shuts off. Vanellope frowns. "I didn't see any really big cy-bugs," she says.

"Hope that you never have to, kid," Calhoun says, shifting her weight to one side.

"But when we had the bugs in Sugar Rush, there was one cy-bug that was bigger than the rest. King Turbug."

Ralph remembers that battle. "Don't worry about him, kid."

"But I didn't see him fly into the light," she insists.

"All the bugs are terminated," a space marine says. "No bug can resist the beacon."

Still, Vanellope's not convinced.

"Let's get you back to Sugar Rush," Ralph says.

"Fine. Hey, Dad-" she smirks at King Candy, "-wanna race there?"

He looks nervous. "I don't, heh heh, remember how to drive."

"You don't what?"

"I got this," says Ralph. "Pardon me, sir." He sits on the back part of the kart.

Vanellope turns to Felix and Calhoun. "Hold on tight. Meet you at Diet Cola Mountain!" she tells Ralph and Candy as she steps on the gas and zooms out. Ralph uses his giant hands to propel the kart forward. The marines nudge and shove each other before deciding to head to Tapper's for root beer.

A pink claw-like hand grips the broken wall as a red-glitching face peers down at the parting company. "So, the glitch remembers her daddy, they're back together, and they're gonna live happily ever after as the rightful rulers of Sugar Rush," he sneers. "Not on my watch." He chuckles darkly as he goes through the hole and slinks up the side of the building to the roof. In the middle of the roof is the device that shoots up the beacon, and right next to it is the detector. Creeping over to the gadgets, he punches and claws at them until they are broken. His laughter echoes throughout the game as he flies off the roof and towards the entrance.


	13. Driving Again

It feels good being back inside Diet Cola Mountain. Vanellope pleasantly strolls around, checking on her old home. "I never knew this place even existed," Candy says, looking around at everything in awe.

"No one did," Vanellope says. She climbs onto her old sponge cake bed. "I found this place one day when I was chased from one of the races. Everyone was making fun of me, and I needed a place to hide. I was gonna hide behind a giant gumdrop, but I found this place instead."

Candy, who gives a small flicker of blue, is horrified at the amount of garbage here. "This is no life for anybody."

"That's what I told her," Ralph says, sitting on top of a flattened stalagmite.

The king gazes at his daughter. "My dear, if I had known about any of this-"

"There was nothing you could've done," Calhoun interrupts, lounging against a stalagmite and looking over her pistol. "You were put in jail, only being kept alive because your code box was needed the way it was reprogrammed."

"Still…" His eyes stare at the ground, his shoulders slumped.

Vanellope slides off her bed, walks up to her father, and pats his shoulder. "It's okay," she tells him. He smiles at her.

"You're back!" Citrusella cries as she, Sour Bill, and Felix run through the secret entrance. "We got your kart out of the lollipop field and over to – oh, Your Majesty!" she falters when she spots the old king. "Er, I mean, Mister President's dad, uh, I mean-"

"Just call me Candy," he says.

"Wait a minute," Ralph says. "If Vanellope is the president now, what does that make you?"

"Good question."

Calhoun changes the subject. "Worry about that later, people. Right now, we've got a game to reset."

"I still don't get it," Citrusella says. "I thought Vanellope already reset the game."

"She did," Candy says, giving his daughter a look of fatherly pride. "But Turbo reprogrammed too much of our game to be fixed after one reset. Because he played as me for so long, my code box can only be fixed if I race. That way, the game will recognize my own code and clear out all of Turbo's." He makes a face at that last bit.

"The track Ralph made is still here," Vanellope points out. "You can practice driving on that." Candy walks over to his trusty kart and hops in. He turns it on, but then he stares blankly at the controls. "Here, let me show you." She skips over and proudly shows him the different pedals and the joystick, telling him what each one does exactly.

Ralph grins off to the side. "This brings back memories."

Felix joins his pal. "You taught Vanellope how to drive?"

"Yep. She kept driving into me. Hurt every time."

An engine revs, and Candy slowly takes off. "Shift it! Shift it!" Vanellope says. Candy starts going faster, making his way around the track. "Whoopee! Way to go, Dad!"

Candy laughs. "I haven't felt this good in years!"

"He's a natural," Citrusella comments.

"Well, doi!" Vanellope says good-heartedly.

Sour Bill looks on with heavy-lidded eyes, but a smile spreads across his face.

Candy steps hard on the gas pedal as he starts driving off track and around the mountain. He picks up speed as he goes off the wafer ramp…and lands safely on the other side. But when he heads down to the main track, he glitches blue – and heads straight for the group.

"Look out!" Ralph shouts, diving out of the way. Felix springs into the air, Vanellope grabs Citrusella and Sour Bill and glitches them out of the way, and Calhoun leap-flips out of the way. Candy screams and slams on the breaks, just barely missing crashing into peanut brittle.

"You okay, sir?" Sour Bill asks, pattering over to him.

His eyes are wide, and he's giggling nervously. "I'm okay, Sour Bill." He continues giggling as he slowly gets out of his kart. "That was close."

"How did you glitch like that, sir?" Citrusella asks, coming out from behind a stalagmite.

He inspects the front and back of his hands. "I…I don't know. Heh heh, I've been doing it off and on since Turbo tried to kill me in Fix It, Felix Jr."

"Maybe when you grabbed him," the indigo racer says, "his glitching made you glitch."

"Yeah," Vanellope says. "That's how I got him to glitch during the race. We were both grabbing the stick when I glitched."

"What happens if you cross the finish line?" Ralph wonders. He looks around. "Hey, where's Felix?"

"Up here," a voice says. Everyone looks up to see Felix hanging onto a stalactite for dear life. "How do I get down?"

"I'll catch you," Calhoun says, holding her arms out. Felix takes a deep breath, let goes, and jumps into his wife's arms.

"Now all you have to do," Vanellope says to her father, "is cross the finish line, and you'll be a real racer."

"I can't just cross the finish line whenever I want. It has to be during a race."

"Well, then let's race like we used to!"

"Attention. The arcade is about to open."

"Come on!" Vanellope tells the ceiling, shaking her fist at it.

"It'll have to wait until the arcade's closed," Ralph says. "Come on, Felix! We gotta go!" The Sugar Rush racers wave goodbye to the wrecker, fixer, and sergeant as they dash back to their own games.

Meanwhile, at Tapper's, Kairi is walking out with Mercury (from Tron 2.0: Killer App). They're the last two people in the station right now, as everyone else has gone back to their own games. The two bid each other goodbye and head back to their home games. Mercury is already back in her game, and Kairi is close to hers.

Evil laughter echoes through the station.

She stops and turns – just in time to see something big, colorful, and glitching red fly out of the terminal for Hero's Duty. An alarm beeps, and the surge protector zaps in and stares wide-eyed at the monster. "You!" he cries.

The creature laughs. "I'm back," he says in a sing-song voice. He grabs the surge protector and brings him to his now-solid face.

"Hey!" Kairi shouts. "Leave him alone!" She runs over to try her hand at defeating a monster. Sora does it every day, and sometimes Riku gets a chance. But she never does anything. What's her purpose?

"Have some candy!" the monster says, swinging his purple-pink tail whips at her. She's knocked back all the way to the entrance to her game.

The surge protector fizzles with electricity, and the virus drops him, shrieking and shaking his hand/claw out. "Miss!" the protector yells at her. "Get back in your game now!"

Even though she wants to stay, the arcade's about to open, and she needs to be in her game. So, she scrambles to her feet and hops in the tram. She glances back as the tram travels through the plug and out of sight. The virus and surge protector get ready to face off, but then the creak of metal can be heard. The virus flies up to the ceiling.

Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun get out of the tram and hurry into the station to get to their games. "Surge!" Ralph says. "What are you doing out here?"

"Careful!" he tries to warn them.

Too late. King Turbug cackles as he swoops down and into the tunnel leading to Sugar Rush.

"Oh, my land!" Felix cries.

**A/N: Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far! Please review! :)**


	14. He's Back

Citrusella does last-minute tune-ups on her kart as Jubileena pulls up. "Hey, Citry!" she chirps.

"Hey, Jubee," her friend says back. "Good luck in the races today!"

Jubileena beams. "Thanks! I'm so excited! I haven't been in the races in a while! Are you gonna go down to the starting line?"

"Yeah, I just have to finish checking my kart."

"Okay. See ya down there!" Bursting with excitement, the cherry-themed racer drives away.

Citrusella smiles and turns back to her kart. Everything looks good, but she should wash the mirrors one more time. Though she's not racing today, she likes keeping her kart in top shape. She cleans one mirror and is cleaning the other when she spots something on it. She rubs that area harder, but nothing changes. It shouldn't be that dirty already. She peers closer, wondering what could have caused the spot.

Then the spot grows bigger. And bigger and clearer until she recognizes it. The ground rumbles beneath her, making her shake. The spot is growing awfully fast in the mirror. She turns around – and comes face-to-face with the creature. She opens her mouth to scream, but it snatches her in its claws, muffling all sound as she punches and kicks at its fingers, begging for it to let her go.

* * *

Nougetsia Brumblestain anxiously taps her foot as she stands by her kart and glances around at the crowd. "Are you okay?" Crumbelina asks the nougat-themed racer.

"Citrusella's not here yet," she says quietly. "She should be here by now. We always do our secret handshake before the arcade opens, for good luck."

Crumbelina's heart melts for the pink racer. "Hey," she says, putting her hand on Nougetsia's shoulder, "it'll be okay. She's probably running a little late."

"Yeah," Nougetsia sighs, hanging her head.

"Here." Crumbelina brings from behind her back a little cup filled with brown liquid. "It's some of my hot chocolate. I have it between races. Maybe it could help settle your nerves."

Nougetsia, who is rather shy, ducks her head as she accepts the warm cup. "Thank you, Crumbelina," she mumbles.

"You're welcome." The Italian dessert-themed racer curtsies to her friend before heading off to her own kart.

Candy peers around the back of the popcorn stand. "Just look at them, Sour Bill," he whispers. "This is better than I remember."

"Hmmm," the sourpuss says.

"I wish I could go out there and talk to them." Sour Bill and Citrusella didn't tell the others about King Candy, thinking Vanellope should be the one to share the news of the long-lost king. They all decided he should hide until he can race and reset the game.

They can hear a kart, and they turn around in time to see Vanellope drive up in her trusty multi-colored kart, parking right next to them and hopping out. "Hey, Dad," she says, a huge grin on her face. "I'm back. Did you miss me?"

"Where did you go?" he asks.

"I had to get something, but first, kneel down."

"Why?"

"Just do it." The king shrugs and complies. "Now, close your eyes."

"What-"

"Shush! Close 'em!" He just chuckles and goes along with it. Vanellope grabs something from the pouch of her hoodie and loops it over his head. "Okay, now you can look." Candy opens his eyes and sees a cookie necklace. It's covered in red frosting, and in thinner white frosting are the words "To Puffy-Pants."

"Um, thanks?" he says unsurely.

"Turn it over."

He does, and he stares at the light purple frosting with white words that read, "Welcome Back, Dad."

"I made it for you," she says when he remains silent and stares at the cookie. "For when you race later today and become a real racer again. Not that you weren't a real racer before."

He lets the cookie necklace fall as he takes his little girl into his arms and hugs her tight. "Thank you, Vanellope," he says, eyes squeezing shut as he savors the moment. She hugs him back, her eyes also closing. Sour Bill's lip trembles and he wipes his eye.

"Quarter alert! Quarter alert!"

They open their eyes and release each other from the embrace. "Gotta go!" As she steps nearer to the staircase that leads to her perch, she adds, "Remember, you're supposed to be a surprise for the racers! So wait here!"

"I will!"

The president and the little ball of sour hurry up to the ruler's box. "Oh, before I forget," she says. She takes out from her pouch another piece of cookie jewelry, this time a badge. One side is covered in dark green, and the white letters read "To Sourpuss." The other side is mint green, and brown frosting spells out "Best Assistant Ever."

"It's just a way of saying thanks," Vanellope says. "For helping me through all this."

Sour Bill's face remains expressionless as he nods and says, "You better get ready." But as soon as she turns away, he smiles at his new badge.

Everything goes on as normal, though some of the racers and citizens are worried that Citrusella isn't here yet. She's never missed a race, whether she played or watched. They try to act normal as the gamer chooses Nougetsia, and everyone rushes to their karts as Vanellope gives her speech. The light turns green, and all nine racers take off. Vanellope and Sour Bill watch the jumbotron. The player is doing really good, and soon Nougetsia is in first place. The nougat-themed racer is feeling pretty good, too. It's been a while since she was in first place. She finishes the Cakeway portion and is now on the rainbow, sparkly roll-up track. She nears the Ice Cream Mountains.

Nougetsia screams when a shadow rises up from the mountains. If it weren't for the gamer in control, she'd drive away right now.

The moppet girl is confused. She comes to the arcade every day, and Sugar Rush is one of her favorite games to play. She's an expert at it. And she's never seen any creature like the one that just flew up and off-screen. "What?" she mutters. She continues playing, but as she's driving through the tunnel, the thing appears at the end, this time laughing maniacally. It makes a swipe at her as she drives out of the mountains, but she drives around it. The moppet girl is so close to winning – but right before she crosses the checkered finish line, the thing snatches at her once more, this time making contact with her racer and causing the screen to glitch. "Come on!"

"What is it, sweetheart?" Mr. Litwak asks, coming over to one of his favorite customers.

"The game's busted," the moppet girl tells him dejectedly. "And it's one of my favorites, too."

"Whoa. Nothing's ever gone wrong with this game before." He takes a couple of quarters out from the pack around his waist. "Here you go, sweetheart."

"What's gonna happen to the game?" she asks, sliding out of the seat.

Mr. Litwak rubs the back of his head. "Well, I can have someone come in and take a look at the game, but if we can't fix it, I'll have to take it out. Too bad. I like this game, too."

* * *

The racers slam on their breaks when they see King Turbug at the finish line, holding Nougetsia's kart in the air. She looks down, but it's too high to jump out, so she presses herself against the back of the seat, eyes wide. "Hello, little girl," he says tauntingly.

"I knew he wasn't dead!" Vanellope hisses to herself before running downstairs, Sour Bill pattering after her. "Dad, it's King Turbug!"

"I know!" Candy says. "I saw him fly over to the Ice Cream Mountains as the game was starting. I wanted to warn someone, but before I could, all the racers took off, and the citizens were too busy cheering to listen to anything."

"What are we gonna do?"

Nougetsia screams as she's plucked out of her seat and her kart is thrown at the Sugar Rush racers. They scream and run away as the kart comes crashing down.

An idea pops up in Vanellope's mind. "Dad, think you can go over to Fix It, Felix Jr. and tell them about King Turbug?"

"Of course." Candy runs over and hops into his purple and yellow kart.

"Good luck!" she calls out as her dad drives away.

An orange light descends upon the land, and everyone watches the jumbotron in horror as an orange "Out of Order" sign is posted on their game. "No," Vanellope says.

"Out of order," King Turbug says. "You brats had it coming."

"Let Nougetsia go!" Sticky Wipplesnit, the most caring racer, cries.

"But then who would keep your citrus friend company?" Everyone stares at him as he cackles and flies away, Nougetsia screaming the whole time.

"No!" Vanellope shouts, running to the place King Turbug had occupied only seconds before.

"Was that King Candy?" Candlehead asks. "I thought he was dead."

"No, that was Turbo, remember?" Rancis tells her.

"But how can Turbo be back?" Snowanna asks. "Isn't he, like, dead?"

All the racers begin to speak up. Vanellope casts a glance back at Sour Bill. They both know they can't keep the truth hidden any longer.


	15. Out of Order

**A/N: I'm realizing how long the story's gonna be. Heh, sorry about that. We are about halfway through, I believe. As always, please leave comments/criticisms/reviews of any sort!**

**And so you know, Candy does glitch, but not as often as Vanellope, because he was not made a glitch like she was.**

**Enjoy! :)**

King Candy drives through the cord to Game Central Station. He panics as the tram comes toward him, but in his panic he glitches, and he ends up going through the tram to the other side. His eyes are huge, the whole thing feeling weird to him. Did Vanellope ever feel like this as a glitch?

He comes out into the terminal and zooms through. BEEP! BEEP! "Sir, what are you doing?" the surge protector asks, appearing by the entrance to Sugar Rush. "The arcade's open!"

"I have to find Ralph!" Candy calls back as he drives along the cord leading to Fix It, Felix Jr.

* * *

The words "You fixed it!" appear over everyone's heads as Felix receives his medal. Mary gives him a peck on the cheek before she joins the other Nicelanders and they hoist Ralph above their heads. He stifles a grin as he looks out the gamer's screen to Sugar Rush.

It has the dreaded orange sign on it.

_What?!_ He screams louder than ever as he's thrown from the roof. He lands face first in the mud, but all he can think about is Sugar Rush being unplugged. It had to be Turbo. As soon as the arcade's closed, he's going to get rid of that bug once and for all. Everyone scrambles around, getting ready for the next level. Ralph shoots up, wipes the mud off of him, and briskly climbs the building to get in position.

Felix looks up at his friend and notices the worried look on his face. Something's eating away at him. As soon as the game's over, he'll talk to Ralph. Problem is, Felix recognizes this gamer's face. He's one of the best, and he usually goes on to the higher levels. It could take a while before the game is done, and Ralph looks like he's gonna burst soon with anxiety. During this next level, Felix does everything he can to lose all his lives. He jumps over the pies, he gets in the way of falling bricks, and he takes longer to fix a window. He can hear the frustrated grumblings of the gamer, but right now he has to end the game. One last brick hits him, and he does his death pose, complete with a flower and cheesy funeral music.

As soon as the screen changes to the "Insert Coin" screen, Felix calls up, "Ralph, are you okay?"

"I should ask you that," Ralph says, climbing down to join his friend on the ground. "You don't usually lose that easily. Are you feeling tired, or-"

"You looked like you needed to talk to someone before you exploded."

Ralph is touched by that. Ever since last year, Felix has done his best to be there for him, no matter what. Felix said it was the least he could do to make up for all those years. Ralph doesn't care; he's just happy he and Felix are on good terms. "Let's go back to my place," he says, leading the handyman to the largest house in East Niceland.

They reach the front door when they hear a motor. They watch as a kart zooms into the game. "Ralph, there you are!" King Candy says as he pulls up just a few feet away from the men. "Hello!"

"Candy! What are you doing here?"

The old man hops out. "It's about Turbo. He took one of our racers! Vanellope thought maybe you could help."

Felix says, "We have to wait until the arcade's closed, or someone may think our game is out of order."

Ralph's face contorts with worry. "I saw an 'Out of Order' sign on Sugar Rush when I was lifted up."

"What?!" the men yell.

"We gotta do something," Felix says, getting hysterical. "They could unplug the game, we'd never see them again, this is hopeless…"

"Felix, pull yourself together!" Ralph shouts before slapping some sense into the guy. They hear snickering and see Coily and Slick off to the side, laughing at the main characters.

"Who knows what he's doing to the game now?" Candy says, grabbing what's left of his graying hair in his hands. "You two need to come as soon as possible!"

* * *

"Oof!" Nougetsia says as she's tossed into a dug-out pit at the top of the Ice Cream Mountains. She pushes herself up and rubs her head.

"Nougetsia?"

She looks up and sees Citrusella on the other side of the makeshift cell. "Citrusella!" She runs over to her friend and hugs her tight. "I was so worried about you!"

"Did Turbo get you, too?"

The pink racer nods. "It was horrible. He messed up our race, and now we're out of order."

"That's awful! We gotta get out of here and do something!"

"Don't even think about it, kiddies," King Turbug says, appearing over the top. The girls step closer to each other. "You're not going anywhere."

"You can't keep us here forever!" Citrusella says, finding her courage.

He stretches his neck down to get closer to her face. She steps back. "Are you going to stop me, little girl?" He laughs.

"Well…Ralph stopped you once, he can do it again."

"That halitosis-riddled warthog won't try to hurt me – not when I get his little friend."

The girls' eyes widen. "No!" they shout.

King Turbug pulls out of the hole. "You can't do this!" Nougetsia says.

"Oh, really?" He snickers, sending chills through the girls' codes.

"What are you going to do with us?" Citrusella asks. As soon as she says that, she regrets it.

He taps his pink fingertips together. "If I'm going to take over the arcade, I need an army."

"No way are we joining!"

"You'll change your mind. In the meantime…" He sets something in the center of the pit and flies away, laughing. The girls lean forward and peer closer at the object.

It's an egg.


	16. Happy Anniversary

**A/N: Sorry about the long wait. This isn't one of my best chapters, but it keeps the story rollin', and that's important.**

**Well, hope you enjoy!**

Kairi sighs. Once again, she's lying unconscious to the side while Sora fights to free her from the Heartless. Just once, she'd like to play the hero and be the one to save everyone, to fight, to _do_ something. It's boring pretending to be asleep all the time. She tried fighting that thing in Game Central Station, but it just knocked her back and she was told to leave. Great.

She hears the clang of the Keyblade against the strikes of the Heartless boss. More fighting, grunts and groans from Sora, the occasional sound effects for various combos. Light flashes through her eyelids, there's a screech, the ground shakes, and Kairi knows the boss has been defeated. She hears Sora run over to her and give her back her "heart."

As she feels the sparkles dissolve over her chest, she opens her eyes and smiles at Sora as she sits up. "You saved me," she tells him. _For the millionth time in a row_.

He grins back at her. "I'm so glad you're back, Kairi." The screen darkens, and they join Riku in the epilogue. They all are so happy to be reunited and promise not to let the darkness overtake them again. They vow to always be there to protect the worlds, and the words "Game Over" appear above them in the game's signature font.

The screen goes back to "Insert Coin" and everyone relaxes. "Man, that gamer sure plays hard," Sora says, rubbing his side.

"Do you think I was too angry in the second world?" Riku asks. "I want it to be realistic but not too dramatic."

"I thought you were fine. What did you think, Kairi?"

"Yeah, same," she deadpans with a shrug.

The boys look at her. "You okay?" Riku asks.

"No," she huffs. "I'm so bored of doing the same thing every game."

"Don't you find it exciting?" Sora says. "The gamer plays different every time."

"All I do is sleep and play the damsel in distress." She crosses her arms. "I don't find that exciting at all."

Riku says, "Well, you find out you're one of the Princesses of Light."

"Great, I'm a princess who does nothing but sleep." She rolls her eyes. "How Aurora ever managed that, I will never know."

"C'mon, Kairi," Sora says. "Being a princess is awesome."

"Okay, let's switch places," she says. "I'll be the hero, you'll be the princess."

"What's gotten into you, Kairi?" Riku asks. "You've never been like this."

She sighs, shifting her weight and looking away. "The truth is…I don't wanna be a princess anymore."

The boys freak out. "What?! You can't mess with the game, Kairi!"

_Well, Vanellope gave up being a princess. Why can't I?_ she thinks, crossing her arms.

"I have an idea," Sora says. "After the arcade closes, let's all go to Tapper's. You like going there, right? You'll forget about all this in no time."

Kairi opens her mouth, but she's interrupted by, "Quarter alert! Quarter alert!"

"Get ready, guys!" Sora tells them before running to his place. Kairi grumbles. She knows the boys mean well, but it sucks when you're stuck doing nothing, and nobody seems to be listening to you. _Maybe I can sneak away while they're at Tapper's and go find Vanellope_, she thinks. _She should be able to help me._

* * *

Finally, the arcade is closed. Ralph picks himself up from the mud, quickly wipes himself off, and runs to his house, where King Candy is staying at. He opens the door to find the king hopping off his chair and impatiently asking, "Are you ready?"

"Yep. Oh, wait! Almost forgot something." Candy watches as Ralph goes to the drawer by his bed and pulls it open. He takes out something.

"What is that?"

"It's a gift for Vanellope. I made it, but I'm not very good at making things." He frowns nervously at it.

Candy pats Ralph's hand, smiling up at him. "I'm sure she'll love it anyways," he says.

Ralph beams, tucking the gift into his shirt. "Let's go." The two of them meet up with Felix, and they all pile into Candy's kart, Ralph and Felix riding on top. The king takes off, and the whole way to the station they're silent, each one thinking about the fate of Sugar Rush and the pesky virus.

Candy parks just outside the terminal when Vanellope comes running out of Sugar Rush. "Kid!" Ralph shouts, sliding off and running over to her.

"Ralph!" Vanellope shouts, running over to him.

"Vanellope!" Kairi shouts, running over to the president, two boys following her.

"Are we all going to Tapper's?" Sora wonders.

"Vanellope, I was wondering if I could talk to you?" Kairi asks.

The black-haired girl looks at the redhead apologetically. "Kairi, I'd love to, but I have a lot to take care of right now."

Ralph and Candy exchange a knowing look before Ralph says, "You could take a little bit of time off."

"But what about King Turbug?"

"You can take care of him later. But right now, you should celebrate."

Her face scrunches up in confusion. "Celebrate what?"

"Today is the one-year anniversary of you being brought back into Sugar Rush."

Everyone starts congratulating her. Vanellope just stands there, shocked. "I completely forgot," she admits.

Ralph looks shy as he takes the gift out and hands it to her. "I, uh, made this for you. It's not as good as the cookie medal you gave me, but…"

Vanellope takes it from his huge hand and looks at it. It's a pie-shaped necklace. One side reads, "To President Fartfeathers." The other side reads, "The Greatest Friend Ever."

Tears well in her eyes. She'd forgotten Ralph was making something for her. It was so sweet of him to remember her anniversary in the first place. She didn't even do anything for his anniversary yesterday. She jumps up and hugs him. "I love it," she tells him.

He beams with pride as he hugs her back. Setting her back down, he says, "Why don't you go hang out with Kairi and her friends for a little bit? Enjoy your anniversary."

She wipes her eyes and points at him. "Don't do anything cool without me." The adults laugh as Vanellope, Kairi, Sora, and Riku make their way to Tapper's.

"Hey," Felix says. "If everything works out well in the end, then that means this will be your anniversary, too, King Candy."

"Hoo hoo! So it will."

"What kind of gift do you want?" Ralph asks.

The king looks at the two men and replies, "All I want is to be with my daughter again."


	17. Empty Track

**A/N: I don't know why Disney named one of Minty Zaki's recolors "Torvald," as that's a boy's name. It's the name of the husband from "A Doll's House." So, I nicknamed her "Tori." It's more of a girl's name, dontcha think?**

**m (Guest): Vous verrez bientot Turbo. (It's supposed to say, "You will see Turbo soon." Sorry if I got it wrong.)**

Vanellope can't stop admiring her pie necklace. "That's a nice gift you got," Kairi says, taking another sip of root beer. Sora and Riku had only one glass of root beer each before heading back to their game to do more play-fighting.

"I know!" Vanellope squeals, letting the medal fall against her hoodie. "I knew he was making me something, but I didn't know what. This is awesome!" Vanellope spots the group of characters Ralph had talked to a few days ago, except for the bad guys. They all had known, and they had helped Ralph come up with this necklace. She slides off her seat and skips over to them. "Thanks for helping Ralph with my necklace!" she tells them, a huge smile on her face.

They stop talking and smile at her. "No problem," Luigi says.

"It looks good," Sonic compliments.

Vanellope beams with pride. "Thanks!" She saunters back to her seat.

Kairi glances down at the frothy, brown soda. She hates ruining the moment, but she can't do another game playing the damsel in distress. "Hey, Vanellope? How did you, um, become a president?"

"Well, after I reset the game, I found out I was a princess. But I didn't want to be a princess. Besides, we'd had enough of a monarchy, and I wanted to do something different. So, I became president."

"That sounds easy enough. I'm thinking about giving up being a princess in my game. All I do is lie around and do nothing."

Vanellope can't even picture a game where you can't move around. "That's horrible."

Kairi nods. "I'd give up anything just to play the hero for once. I want to do something more with my life. I want to find out who I'm supposed to be."

"Still no luck with the backstory?"

She shakes her head. "No."

The racer pats her friend's arm. "I hope you come up with something soon," she says.

"Yeah. Me, too."

* * *

"It's so quiet," Felix says as they approach the abandoned finish line. Not a single racer or citizen is in sight. Everything is as it was left, including the banged-up karts from when King Turbug attacked.

King Candy turns slowly, taking in the spooky sight. "How could things have changed this much?" he wonders. "This morning, it was full of life, everyone getting along."

Ralph grunts, "Leave it to Turbo to ruin everything. He always does." They continue along the track, searching for clues to everyone's whereabouts.

"Hey!" someone calls out. They look up and see Calhoun riding her cruiser down to them. When she's low enough, she jumps off and deactivates her cruiser. "Surge told me to come as soon as I could. He's been keeping tabs on this place ever since Turbo escaped here."

"We could use some help," Ralph says. "We're trying to find out where everyone is."

"Hmmm…" Calhoun takes out her new tracker (which blocks out sugar particles) and punches a couple buttons. The tracker beeps. "Found them."

"You're amazing," Felix says dreamily, looking up at his wife with half-lidded eyes.

She spares him a quick smile and points at the palace in the distance. "I'm picking up something coming from that direction. Let's move!"

"Is she always like this?" Candy whispers to Ralph as they follow the soldier.

"Yeah, pretty much," he says back.

* * *

They come to the front doors of the palace. Felix steps forward and knocks. A few moments later, the door opens a crack. "Mmm, yes?"

"Sour Bill," Felix greets the cough drop. "May we come in?"

Sour Bill glances at each of them before opening the door a little wider. "Hurry," he says.

Candy, Felix, and Calhoun slip through with no problem, but Ralph has to open the door a little wider to make it inside. Before anyone can ask anything, they hear a voice say, "So there _is_ a King Candy!" Everyone looks toward the stairs and spots Torvald Batterbutte near the bottom, holding a half-eaten sugar plum.

Candy nervously waves at her and says, "Heh heh, hello."

The yellow-haired racer waves back, a look of shock on her face. "Vanellope told us about you, but I wasn't sure if-"

"Whoa, wait a minute," Ralph interrupts. "When did she tell you?"

"After King Turbug attacked and took Nougetsia." The racer tucks the sugar plum in a back pocket and walks over to them. "After he took her, everybody came here to hide for the time being. Vanellope and Sour Bill told us everything that had happened to you, King Candy, and she said you went to get help." She searches among them. "Wait, where's Vanellope? Isn't she with you?"

"No," Ralph says. "She's taking some time off to celebrate her one-year anniversary."

"Oh, right, Citrusella told us all about it." She starts bouncing with excitement. "I think your plan is awesome! Did you give her the gift yet?"

"I did."

"So, what do we do now?"

"Right now, kid, we gotta take care of some bug business," Calhoun says, shooing the kid. "So, run along…"

"Call me Tori."

Candy speaks up, "I thought your name was Torvald."

Tori complains, "That's a boy's name. I'm a girl. The programmers should have done a better job naming me." She crosses her arms.

"Well, Tori," Felix says, stepping up to the girl and laying a hand on her shoulder, "you'd better leave. We don't want you getting involved in grown-up stuff like this."

"Fine." She turns to leave, but then says, "You'd better be careful fighting King Turbug."

"Don't worry about him, racer," Calhoun says, shifting her weight to one side. "We can handle one pesky bug."

"But what about those egg things he has?"

The adults freeze. Even Sour Bill stares at the little girl with wide eyes. "Egg things?" Calhoun repeats.

Tori nods. "I was passing a window when I saw him outside. At first, I thought he was sitting, but then he stood up and I saw shiny things, and when I looked closer, they looked like eggs. He took one with him up to the Ice Cream Mountains. I think he brought Nougetsia there, too."

"Alright, men," Calhoun says, cocking her blaster. "We've got a nest to wipe out. Remember: destroy all cy-bugs."

"But what if the cy-bugs have Nougetsia?" Tori asks. "You wouldn't hurt her, would you?"

Ever since she got married, Calhoun has seen things in a softer light than she used to. She knows the value of friendships, of being connected to those you love and wanting to save them no matter what. But she understands all too well this threat. "I'll try my best to save her," she tells Tori in a gentle tone, "but if the cy-bugs already got her, there's not much I can do."

Tori's head falls, her eyes watering.

"No, please, don't cry," Candy says, coming forward to pat the girl soothingly on the back. "The lady is going to do everything she can to get Nougetsia back safe and sound."

"Candy," Ralph says as the other three start backing out of the palace. "Why don't you stay here and take care of everyone?"

The king nods, a solemn expression on his face. Sour Bill follows the wrecker, the fixer, and the sergeant to the door. The three bid him farewell, and with one last worried glance at their retreating forms, he shuts the door.


	18. Taken

"That was a pretty short celebration," Kairi comments as she and Vanellope step off the tram.

"It was good," Vanellope says as they walk into the station, "but I wanna help fight King Turbug. Besides, it's not as fun celebrating without everyone else."

Kairi nods. "Let's head into Sugar Rush and see if we can catch up with them."

They walk in that direction, but an electric blue note appears in front of them. Vanellope snatches it and reads it aloud, "Run. Get as many people out of the main station as possible." The girls look at each other with worried expressions. If the surge protector wants them all out, then something bad is coming.

Bad guys are leaving Pac-Man nearby, their Bad-Anon meeting over. Clyde is with them, one of the rare times he hangs out with the group after the meetings. The girls run up to them. "Guys! Guys!" Vanellope says, jumping up and down. "We need your help."

"Our help?" Kano says, looking surprised. "Why would you need our help?"

Kairi tells them, "We need to get everyone out of here. Now."

"Why?" Clyde asks.

A rumble sounds, getting louder and louder with each passing second. "Hey!" Vanellope starts running all over the station. "Everyone! Get out of here! Move your molasses!"

Everyone looks confused – until a cy-bug emerges from the Sugar Rush terminal. They all panic and run for the nearest game.

"Stupid bug!" Mishaela growls. She pushes her way to the front and shoots her hand out, casting the level 2 version of Bolt. The cy-bug screeches and disappears. But two more fly into the station.

"Get 'em!" Bowser says before charging at the oncoming cy-bugs.

The Bad-Anon guys move out, attacking the cy-bugs as they fly into the station. Vanellope and Kairi run forward, too, but Satan stops them with his staff. "I'm sorry, girls," he says, "but you two need to stay back. You could get hurt."

"Come on!" Kairi shouts, getting frustrated. "Let us fight! We can help!"

"Do you have any experience fighting?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Then, stay here." Satan leaves them to attack a nearby cy-bug.

Kairi fumes. "I don't care what anyone tells me," she says, a determined look on her face. "I'm going to fight."

Vanellope looks around fearfully. "How? They're bigger and stronger than us."

Kairi's look falters. "I don't know, to be honest. But I'm sick of always sitting around. I'm going to fight at least one cy-bug." She spots a cy-bug trying to munch on a bench. She runs over and punches it in the side. "Ow," she groans, holding her aching hand. She turns to her friend and says, "That's a really tough bug."

The cy-bug turns around and looks down at the girls with its glowing green eyes. "Uh oh," Vanellope says. She pulls Kairi out of the way as it brings its claw down on the space they had occupied only seconds before. "Okay, we're gonna need a better plan."

"Yeah. Agreed." The girls scan the area for anything they could use as a weapon, but everything's either too big or bolted to the ground. Drat. Nothing. They slowly turn and watch the cy-bug as it turns around. A stray spell hits it, and it screeches as it dissolves into green mist. The girls release their breath, glad that's over with.

"There you are," an all-too-familiar voice sneers.

Vanellope looks over her shoulder. "Oh, great."

King Turbug crawls out of the terminal, wiggling his fingers with glee. "I've been looking all over for you…_glitch_."

"Hey!" Kairi yells, stepping in front of her friend defiantly. "Leave her alone!"

"Or what?" He makes as if to slap her away. Instead, he's hit by Mishaela's Bolt spell. "Ahhh!"

"Leave those kids alone!" the dark elf shouts, preparing for another spell. All the Bad-Anon people come out of their battles with the cy-bugs and now gather together to fight the king of cy-bugs.

He just smiles wickedly. "Have some candy!" With a flick of his tail-whips, all the bad guys are knocked back. As they're recovering from the blow, he turns to Vanellope. "And now, for you." He lunges for her.

Kairi shoves the president out of the way and is snatched instead by King Turbug. Vanellope pushes herself up off the ground and looks up in horror. "No!" she screams.

"Vanellope, run! Get out of here!" Kairi says as she struggles to break free from the life-squeezing grip that holds her.

"No! Kairi!"

Moans and groans come from the Bad-Anon folk, as they pull themselves together. King Turbug growls. There's no way he can fight all of them at once. "Time to go," he says. Looking down at the terrified racer, he says, "I'm not through with you yet, glitch."

"When's this gonna end?" Vanellope whines. "I just want this to be over already."

King Turbug starts backing away, but he doesn't break his gaze with her. "I couldn't agree more. But for now-" he tosses Kairi into the air and catches her, "-I think I'll just play with your little friend."

"Let her go!"

He gives one last smirk as he flies through a nearby terminal, carrying the frantic Kairi with him.

"No!" Vanellope runs over to the terminal, but it's too late. He's gone. And so is Kairi.

"Vanellope?" Zangief asks as the Bad-Anon members walk up to her. "Are you okay?"

She just stares down the dark cord tunnel. "Kairi…"

Mishaela floats over and rests a hand on the kid's shoulder. "I'm sorry, honey," she says. "We tried."

Vanellope shakes her head and nudges Mishaela's hand away. "No, it's not over." She turns to face the bad guys. "It's not. We can't just let King _Turd-_bug get away with it."

Cyril the zombie moans, "Us, bad guys. Always lose. We never do anything else."

"All you gotta do is help me squash a bug."

The Bad-Anon members exchange looks. "Fine," M. Bison says. "We'll help, but just this once."

"Yay!" Vanellope looks up at the game's title. "Kingdom Hearts? This is Kairi's game!"

* * *

Citrusella and Nougetsia back away from the baby cy-bug. While trying to climb out of the pit, they'd fallen and touched the egg, activating it. Though they think the little guy is cute, they don't trust it.

"What are we gonna do?" Nougetsia asks her friend.

"I don't know." Citrusella's eyes dart around, looking for anything to protect them from this thing.

They shriek and run away when the baby bug jumps at them. It crawls around, chasing the girls. After a few minutes of running, Nougetsia spots a chocolate rock nearby, scoops it up, and throws it at the bug. It lands in its open mouth, and the bug grows a chocolate shell and doubles in size. "Uh oh," she says, wide-eyed. The girls huddle together as the bigger cy-bug slowly crawls over to them.

Something hits it and makes it explode into green dust. "You kids alright?" a voice calls. They look up and see Sergeant Calhoun, hovering on her cruiser along with Felix.

"We're fine!" Citrusella shouts back. "Can you get us out of here?"

"Can do!" Felix says. The couple swoops down, grabs the girls, and flies out.

"Where's Ralph?" Citrusella asks.

Calhoun gestures with her blaster. "Down there, fighting more cy-bugs!"

Ralph punches the last of the cy-bugs near the tunnel and looks up in time to see the four of them land on the ground. "I got 'em all!" he says.

"Hmmm," Calhoun says, eyes scrunching up in thought.

"What is it, Tammy?" Felix asks.

"This wasn't much of a nest," she explains. "If that virus king wanted to make a nest, he would've had more eggs lying around. But there weren't very many to begin with. He must be planning to make his nest somewhere else."

"But where-"

An electric blue note appears in front of them. "Huh?" Felix jumps up and grabs the note. After looking it over, he says, "It's from the surge protector."

"What does it say?" Ralph asks.

Felix reads aloud, "King Turbug is inside Kingdom Hearts. Vanellope and Bad-Anon members are going in to fight. Be warned: Kingdom Hearts has Heartless. Don't let any of them get you. They consume everything and turn it to darkness."

"Let's go, men," Calhoun says, deactivating her blaster and attaching it to the holder on her back. "We gotta get these kids to the palace before going over."

"No way!" Citrusella says, holding her hands out. "I wanna come, too!"

"Citrusella," Ralph says, "it's not safe where we're going."

"But I wanna help!"

Nougetsia shuffles forward and mumbles, "Me, too."

"But if you die outside of Sugar Rush," Felix tells them, "you don't regenerate."

The girls look at each other, then back at the adults. "We know," Citrusella says.

"We can't let King Turbug get that game unplugged," Nougetsia adds. Though she's shy, she also has a strong sense of duty.

Calhoun is proud of the fighting spirit these girls show. Nevertheless, she tells them, "Look, there's just no way you can come. We don't have any weapons for kids to use, and there aren't enough hoverboards for everyone to get around."

"Can't we use our karts?" Citrusella begs.

The adults deliberate, wanting to let the kids help but not wanting them to get hurt. Another electric blue note appears. Felix jumps up, grabs it, and reads it. When he's done, he looks up at the group and says, "Looks like we're heading to the palace."

**A/N: Thanks for all the comments, favorites, and follows, guys! :) You make my day!**


	19. The Battle Begins

Sour Bill patters up to King Candy, who's sitting behind his chocolate bar desk. "Can I get you anything, sir?" he drones.

Candy replies, "Not right now, thank you, Sour Bill."

"Mmhmm."

Candy rests his chin in his hand as his eyes gaze around the room. It's been so long since he's been in his office. The memories he has of this place…of when Turbo was here. He shudders.

"Mmm, you okay?"

The old man sighs. "Just remembering…Turbo."

"Mmm." Sour Bill stares at the ground.

There's a knock at the door, and they look up at the open door to see Swizzle and Sticky. "You okay, sir?" Sticky asks softly.

"I'm fine, my dear," he assures her with a small smile. "Just getting used to this place again."

"Glad you don't have to go back to the fungeon again, right?" Swizzle says, stepping into the room.

King Candy shudders once more. "Right. That place still gives me the creeps."

Sticky walks over to the king and pats his arm. "It's okay," she says. "You don't ever have to go back there again."

"Yeah," Swizzle agrees, joining the group. "You're with us now."

Candy thinks about that. He'd been hesitant meeting the racers and citizens after Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun left. He'd only gone to the ballroom (where they're staying for now) to return Tori to her friends, but after a quick hello, he disappeared into his study. It feels so weird joining his subjects again after nearly sixteen years of being locked up and half-starved to death.

DING DONG!

"I'll get it," Sour Bill drawls. His jelly bean feet patter quickly out of the room and down the hallway.

An awkward silence hangs in the air. "So," Swizzle says, "do you wanna race later?"

It occurs to the king right then that, when he did race, it was either part of the game or against his daughter. He never raced with anyone else. And other than driving around Diet Cola Mountain, he hasn't done any racing for sixteen years. "Sure, Swizzle," he says with a polite smile. "I'd like that."

They hear the front door open and a voice call out, "Candy!"

"Ralph?" The old man hops out of his seat and runs out to meet the trio, followed by the two racers. "What happened? Did you get rid of the cy-bugs?"

"We have to go to Kingdom Hearts," Felix tells him. "That's where King Turbug is."

"And we all get to go help fight!" Citrusella says happily.

"We're gonna drive our karts over and help evacuate the game," Nougetsia says, not wanting to get down and dirty.

"Yes!" Swizzle says, pumping his fists. "More racing!"

"Okay, pipsqueaks," Calhoun says. "Get everyone who wants to go, and make it quick!"

* * *

Sora successfully blocks a move from Riku with his Keyblade. "Nice try!" he tells his friend. He counters and "stabs" his friend.

Riku clutches his side and dramatically pretends to die. "Oh, you got me," he says, as ridiculously as possible. "Oh, what a world, what a world." He gasps and collapses on the ground. Both boys laugh their heads off.

"Would you two keep it down?" Maleficent hollers from a window in the Hollow Bastion castle. "Some of us are _trying_ to enjoy ourselves after hours!"

"Sorry!" Sora calls back, but as soon as Maleficent turns from the window, Sora and Riku continue snickering silently.

Someone shouts from far away. Both boys hush up and listen closely. They then hear a cackle.

Maleficent returns to the window. "I thought I told you boys to shut up!"

"It's not us!" Sora says.

A burst of color flies into the game. Before the three can register what it is, they hear Kairi shout, "Let me go!"

Sora's eyes widen. "Kairi!" Before he can swing his Keyblade, he and Riku get knocked back by a swinging claw.

King Turbug lands on the ground. "Well, well," he says, "what do we have here?"

"Guys, run!" Kairi says, pushing once more at the pink hand clutching her.

Sora, though, gets to his feet and holds out his Keyblade. "Let her go!" he cries.

"Have some candy!" King Turbug cries as he swipes with his claw. Sora counters, but the rebound brings him to his knees.

"Sora!" Riku rushes forward with his own weapon – only to be slapped aside.

Maleficent watches the boys attempt to fight the virus, but he's too quick and strong. She wonders… "Heartless!" she shouts, thrusting her staff into the air. Lightning strikes nearby. "Hear me! Come vanquish this colorful enemy! Do not fail me!"

Thick, black shadows form on the ground and culminate in pools of Shadow and Neo-Shadow Heartless. Maleficent grins at the dark multitude. They might be small, but they can overpower anything. (That's why no one usually summons the Heartless after hours.) They scamper over to the fight – but something Maleficent forgot about Heartless is that they're impulsive creatures who align with the strongest side. And right now, King Turbug looks pretty strong.

Sora and Riku gasp as the Heartless pass them and surround King Turbug, awaiting his order. He stares down at the black, puffy creatures, taking a couple steps back. "Get away!" he screeches.

The Heartless comply, backing up.

King Turbug pauses, a surprised look on his face. Then gets an idea, his eyes narrowing and his lips curling into a sinister sneer. "Get them!" he says, pointing a fuchsia claw at Sora and Riku.

The Heartless eagerly jump at the boys. "No!" Kairi screams, pushing harder against his tight grip. Maleficent can't believe it. In the game, the Heartless always listened to her. Obviously not anymore. She hurries from the window, determined to get out of there before matters get worse.

Sora summons energy at the tip of his Keyblade and shoots out a beam of light. The beam is only strong enough to take out five Heartless, though, and many more swarm closer. After about ten minutes of constant fighting, the boys grow tired. In his exhaustion, Sora lowers his Keyblade – giving a nearby Heartless an advantage. It jumps onto Sora, knocking him back. He hits his head on the ground and is dazed, long enough for the Heartless to scratch him.

"No!" Kairi screams again. "Sora!"

"You, girl," King Turbug says, bringing her to his face, "what are those creatures called?"

"They are Heartless, just like you!" she spits.

"Turbo-tastic!" He flies up to the very top of the castle. "I think I'll stay here and take over this game."

"Over my dead body!"

He glares at her. "That can be arranged." He dangles her by her hood over the side. "You can always join your friends." He laughs.

Kairi looks down at the horrible scene. Sora is struggling to get up, but so many Heartless are piling on top of him and weighing him down, the Keyblade just out of his reach. Riku is faring no better, being surrounded by a ring of Heartless that shrinks in size until he's all but covered. She wants so much to be with them, to tell them they'll make it through. She wants to fight those Heartless and beat them to a pulp. But she can't. She doesn't have a weapon or magic skills.

She stops struggling for a moment and slumps. "I can't help them," she mutters sadly. "I can't do anything."

"Awww," he says sympathetically. He draws her closer, cradles her in the palm of his hand, and strokes her hair with a finger. "You poor girl." He lifts her closer to his face. "You can do something greater than anything programmers had in mind."

As much as she doesn't want to admit it, hearing those words lifts Kairi's spirits. "Really?" she asks hopefully.

"There's just one little catch."

"…What's that?"

He reaches behind him and withdraws an egg. Her eyes widen in horror. With a gentle squeeze of his hand, the virus king activates the egg. Seconds later, a baby cy-bug rests in the palm of his hand. "Girl, meet cy-bug. Cy-bug-" his mouth curls into a smirk, "-meet snack."


	20. Inside Kingdom Hearts

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's reading/reviewing so far! It makes my day! :)**

Vanellope doesn't wait for the Kingdom Hearts tram to come to a complete stop before she jumps out. "Come on, come on, come on!" she urges the Bad-Anon members.

"This is a strange place," Dr. Robotnik can't help but note. Everyone looks around. Indeed, there are different structures and terrains, as if the programmers threw together a bunch of different worlds when making the game.

Cyril lifts one of his hatchets. "What's that?" he moans.

Everyone looks in the direction he's pointing. There's a huge mound of black stuff, with an occasional glimmer of metal, right in front of a castle. On top of that castle is King Turbug holding something in each hand. _Kairi's gotta be there_.

Neff grunts and charges at the black things. A couple shriek and try to run away, but they end up pounded into nothing. The other Bad-Anon members run out and start attacking. Vanellope calculates the fastest route to Kairi. She can glitch her way across the field, but how is she going to get all the way up there?

"Need a hand?"

She turns around and sees a red-haired boy hovering close by. He's wearing a green tunic, green leggings, and a matching hat and shoes. Right by his head is a glowing yellow light. "Who are you?" she asks.

"I'm Peter Pan," the boy says, doing a flip in the air. "And this is my friend, Tinker Bell." The light zooms up to Vanellope's face, and she can see it's actually a fairy. "What are you and your friends doing here?"

"A stupid virus came in here with Kairi, and he's got her up there!" Vanellope points to King Turbug, who's looking at something in his hands. "I don't know how to get up there, though."

"We can help you there!" Peter says. Tinker Bell makes a chiming sound and circles Vanellope twice, showering her with golden pixie dust.

Immediately, Vanellope starts floating. "Whoa!" she says, flailing her arms and legs.

"It's okay," Peter tells her. "Just keep thinking happy thoughts, and you'll be flyin' like a pro in no time!"

_Happy thoughts?_ She squeezes her eyes shut as she thinks hard about Ralph, Felix, Calhoun…her dad, Citrusella, Sour Bill, the surge protector. She thinks about all her friends, and she feels herself floating higher. She grins and opens her eyes to thank Peter and Tinker Bell – only to find they have disappeared. "Okay," Vanellope tells herself. "You can do this." It's tricky at first, but she manages to fly and glitch at the same time. In less than a minute, she is right behind the virus king.

"No, please!" Kairi screams.

"I can't stop it even if I wanted to," he tells her. "You know how a cy-bug gets when it's hungry." Evil laugh.

_Cy-bug?_ Vanellope flies higher until she can peek over his shoulder. Sure enough, in one hand is the terrified Kairi, and the other holds a baby cy-bug. King Turbug brings his hands closer together, allowing the cy-bug to crawl over to Kairi. She backs up on all fours, but soon her hand goes over the edge. She glances back once at the stomach-dropping height, looks back at the cy-bug with wide eyes.

Right as the cy-bug is about to jump onto Kairi, Vanellope glitches in, grabs her friend's hand, and glitches back behind King Turbug. "What the-?!" he says. The cy-bug jumps, but without anything to latch onto, it misses; and since it's a baby, it can't fly. The virus king cranes his long neck as he watches his minion fall. "How can it be?"

Vanellope snickers, and King Turbug's neck bends around. His angry eyes spot the little racer. "Glitch!" He grabs at her, but she glitches away from him.

"Ha ha!" she taunts, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Nice one, Vanellope!" Kairi cheers. He growls and takes off from his perch to chase the girls.

None of them pay attention to the baby cy-bug, who is on the ground and has now grown to full size. A Heartless breaks away from its group to scamper over and inspect this new creature. It shrieks when the cy-bug grabs it, but it turns into a 2-D shadow and escapes. Before the cy-bug knows what happened, the Heartless emerges and slashes at the cy-bug's heart – but instead of dying, the cy-bug's outer shell turns black and a smoke-like substance emits from it whenever it moves around. Its eyes are now yellow, and its tail-whips are twisted and solid black.

People gather from all over the game, wondering what all the commotion is about. They are stunned to find Sora and Riku being overpowered by the Heartless. But who are those strange people fighting the Heartless? And why is there a giant, colorful bug chasing two flying girls? Everyone's even more puzzled when they hear the roar of engines. They scream and scramble out of the way as more than a dozen karts and a hoverboard zoom in. The karts screech to a stop, and the hoverboard floats around.

"Alright, people!" Calhoun says. "Get as many people out of this game as you can and head to Game Central Station now!"

The characters all hurry to catch the tram, but only a few manage to make it on before it takes off down the tunnel. "I can take people!" Nougetsia says as Felix and Ralph hop off her kart.

"Me, too!" Sticky says.

"And me!" Candlehead says.

All the Sugar Rush racers offer to take people into the station, except for King Candy. "I'm not leaving without my little girl!" he tells the sergeant.

She nods at him. "Spread out and find that virus!" she tells them, shooting at a Heartless that strays too close to her husband.

Vanellope flies around the castle and lowers Kairi to the ground. "Hey, Vanellope!" she calls up before her feet touch the ground. "I think I saw your friends over there!" She points. Vanellope flies up so she can see over the mass of Heartless – sure enough, there's her father and her friends. She's never been happier to see them in her entire life!

"Come on!" Vanellope says. "Let's go!"

She grabs Kairi's hand, but Kairi pulls away. "I can't leave Sora or Riku." She motions to the two boys struggling to break through the Heartless piles.

"How do we get 'em out?"

Kairi lowers her gaze. "I don't know," she says. "I know Keyblades work on the Heartless, but only Sora and Riku have Keyblades. I don't-" She stops, remembering the last round of gameplay. "Wait. Light. When I play asleep in the last round of the game, I always see a flash of light through my eyelids whenever Sora finally defeats the boss. We have to hit them with light."

Vanellope looks at the creatures of darkness. "I guess that makes sense. Ralph had to make a beacon of light to fry all the cy-bugs."

"Maybe we could make one for the Heartless and aim it at them." Kairi puts a hand to her chin in thought. "But how?"

The ground rumbles, and the girls look behind them. King Turbug is on the ground, and he's glaring at them. "Found you," he sneers, crawling up to them.

He hisses and shoots back when Mishaela's Bolt spell narrowly misses hitting him. "Get away from them!" she cries, flying in front of the girls. He braces to charge again, but she knocks him back – right into a forming pool of Heartless. Mishaela quickly leads the girls away.

Candy spots them in the distance. "Vanellope!" he yells. He rushes forward, but some Shadow Heartless block his path. He does a double-take. Wait, those aren't Shadow Heartless.

They're Cy-Bug Heartless.


	21. The Solution

Citrusella crosses her arms and taps her foot anxiously as she stares down the cord tunnel. "Where are they?" she mumbles.

"You okay, Citry?" Jubileena asks as she and Nougetsia walk up to the indigo racer.

She shakes her head. "I thought they'd all be back by now. I hope they're alright."

Nougetsia pats her friend's shoulder. "I'm sure they'll be here sooner than you think."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Leon says, approaching them. "Heartless can be tough to defeat. It could take a couple hours."

"What?" Citrusella's eyes widen. "We have to help them!"

"I'm sorry, miss," he says, "but there's just nothing we can do."

Her eyes narrow in determination. "No, there has to be something. There's gotta be!"

"Not unless you can unlock Kingdom Hearts."

"What do you mean?"

Leon shrugs. "I hear it's the ultimate source of light. You unlock it, open the doors, and all this light comes pouring out, and all the Heartless are killed off." He waves a hand dismissively. "But that's just what I heard about the bonus level."

"Good enough for me." Citrusella hops into her kart.

"Wait!" Nougetsia shouts. "You can't go back there!"

"Yeah!" Jubileena says. "You could get hurt, or you could die, and you don't regenerate outside your game!"

Citrusella gives her friends a solemn look. "But I owe Vanellope," she says before flooring the gas pedal. She thinks about that as she drives. It's true: she promised Vanellope she'd pay her back for her kindness. So far, she hasn't gotten a chance. Ralph had told her he was planning a surprise party for Vanellope, and wanted the Sugar Rush racers to help, but Citrusella hadn't really done anything but tell people about it. She wishes more than anything that she could've gotten more of a chance to pay Vanellope back. If she can at least get to the president and tell her how to stop the Heartless…

Then she could die in peace.

* * *

King Candy gives a shout and glitches as he runs back to his kart, a couple of Cy-Bug Heartless hot on his trail. Ralph spots the monsters and punches them into oblivion. "Candy! You okay?" he asks.

Two hands appear over the side of the kart and cling to it, Candy's bald head rising up a couple inches. "I can't get through the monsters! How am I supposed to get to Vanellope?"

"Here." Ralph climbs onto the back of the kart. "Drive, drive, drive!"

Candy slams on the gas, and Ralph bashes the dark bugs as they plow through the group. Candy spots something among the Heartless and screeches to a stop. "What is _that_?" he asks the wrecker, pointing at the thing.

Ralph squints – it's a person. "Hold on!" he shouts, jumping off the kart and grabbing the thing and pulling it out. It's Sora.

"Thanks," the spiky-haired boy says shakily. "I've never been overpowered like that."

"Are you okay?" King Candy asks. He glitches and gives a cry when a Cy-Bug Heartless explodes near him, thanks to a spell from Satan.

Ralph sets Sora down. Once his feet are back on the ground, he tells the adults, "We have to get rid of the Heartless, but I've never seen Heartless like those." He points to a group of Cy-Bug Heartless fighting with Bowser and Kano. "Those reproduce like crazy! You kill one, three more take its place."

"We'll need a beacon," Ralph says. "Does anything here make a big light?"

"My Keyblade does." Sora summons a giant key in his hand with a gold handle and a silver blade. "But I don't think it's strong enough to wipe out all of them. I need more power."

"Ralph!" someone shouts. The three watch Mishaela lead over Vanellope and Kairi. "We need to leave, quick!" Mishaela tells them. "I knocked King Turbug back into a few Heartless, but that won't stop him for long."

Soon, Calhoun, Riku, and the other bad guys join them, Felix going around and healing battle wounds with his hammer. "There are too many monsters!" Calhoun says. "We need to get you all out now!"

"But what about our game?" Riku asks.

Calhoun shakes her head sadly. "I'm sorry, but without a beacon, there's no way to stop these bugs."

"We can produce a light beam," Sora says, motioning to him and Riku, "but it's not strong enough to handle all these guys."

They all hear an engine vroom and watch Citrusella plow through the Heartless and screech to a stop next to the group. "I know how to get rid of the Heartless!" she tells them, hopping out of her kart. "You gotta unlock Kingdom Hearts!"

"Right!" Sora and Riku say at the same time. "We forgot all about that!"

Kairi remembers hearing about that the first time a player unlocked the bonus level. "How do you unlock Kingdom Hearts?" she asks.

"You need two Keyblades and two hearts," Riku tells her. His eyes go wide as he looks about him. "Uh oh. Where's my Keyblade?"

"Look out!" Kano says, pushing the white-haired boy out of the way as he jumps and slashes at the bug with a butterfly knife. The creature shrieks and dissipates into black smoke, but more swarm closer.

"We have to get out of here now!" Calhoun says. She turns to the boys and says, "Good luck getting rid of these monsters!"

"Wait!" Riku shouts. "I wanna come with you!"

"What?" Sora says, surprised. "But what about saving our game?"

"I can't do anything without my Keyblade." He hangs his head. "I'm helpless and would just get in your way."

Kairi understands the feeling, of wanting to do something but not being able to – but she also understands that they have to try to save their game. "Can't you summon yours?" she suggests. "Sora can do it."

"We can only do it if we magically put ours away," Sora explains, "but if we lose it, we have to find it before we can do anything else."

"Then let's start looking!" Kairi says.

Vanellope jumps up. "I'm helping!"

"No, you can't!" Candy says, hopping out of his kart and hurrying over to her. "You need to get out of this game immediately!"

He grabs his daughter's hand and pulls her toward the kart, but she struggles to get away. "No, I don't wanna go!" She glitches out of her father's hold and right next to Kairi. "I'm staying!"

The king regards his daughter with longing and sadness. _My darling girl_. "Vanellope, I lost you for sixteen years. I can't lose you again!"

Vanellope's determined face falls as she realizes how her father must have felt, thinking the person you cared about most was dead, being unable to escape and help them. But still…

"Look out!" Ralph shoves Vanellope out of the way as a Cy-Bug Heartless slashes his arm. "Aaagh!" Mishaela and Neff go to attack it and the oncoming Heartless while Ralph winces and groans, clutching his wounded arm.

"Ralph!" Felix and Vanellope shout at the same time. Felix bounds over to Ralph, inspects the damage. "I don't know if I can fix this," Felix says, nervously adjusting his hat.

"No!" Vanellope says. "There has to be something you can do!"

Felix looks sadly at the little girl. "If it was a normal wound, I'd be able to. But look." They all do – rising from the middle of the deep cut is a thin line of black smoke. "I don't know how to fix that."

"Uh oh," Riku says. "That's darkness. It's really hard to cure darkness. Trust me, I know."

"You should get back to your game," Bowser says.

"Yeah," Kano agrees. "You should rest up."

Ralph glances worriedly at Vanellope, hesitating. She looks up at him with big eyes and gently touches his arm.

"You'd better go," Riku advises. "When darkness spreads, it can make you do things you'll regret later."

Ralph shuts his eyes and hangs his head. "Okay." He turns away from those huge, empathetic hazel eyes.

Citrusella offers, "I can give you a ride there." Ralph climbs onto the back with a groan, Felix going with him to help him.

"No! Ralph!" Vanellope cries as the kart takes off. She makes as if to follow, but Candy grabs her arms and holds her back. "Let me go!"

"Let him go," he tells her.

"No!" she shouts, pulling away.

He lunges and wraps his arms around her. "He needs to recover. You have to let him go if you want him to get better!"

"I don't care! You're a liar!" She yanks away from him, but he grabs her again. She glitches away this time, but Satan stops her with his staff.

"I have to agree with him," he says. "You should leave Ralph be." Everyone mumbles in agreement.

Vanellope stands there, staring at the cord tunnel. Her eyes glisten with unshed tears. Candy comes forward and rests a hand sympathetically on her shoulder, but she jerks away, whirling around and shouting, "I hate you! You should've let me go!" She glitches and runs away until she's behind the castle, far away from everyone. She sinks to her knees, hugs herself, and sobs.

Candy stares in the direction Vanellope ran off, his heart breaking all over again. He's tried so hard to be reacquainted with his daughter, but it seems like all his efforts are backfiring. Is the damage too much to repair?

"Candy! Get behind me!" Calhoun shouts, taking out her blaster and hitting some oncoming monsters. The old man complies and hides behind the sergeant, Kairi and Riku joining him. Sora runs out with the others and joins the fighting.

The surge protector turns away from the pixel ball and quickly scans the walls of the archiving code. There has to be something he can do to help. He's been watching them since Vanellope and the Bad-Anon members ran into the game. If he could just –

"Aha!" he cries, giving a brief, triumphant smile. He taps on the corresponding light and turns back to the pixel ball. He watches as a Way to the Dawn Keyblade materializes in front of the boy.

Riku stares at his Keyblade, which hovers in front of him waiting for him to take it. "How-"

"It doesn't matter!" Kairi says, pushing him towards it. "Just take it and fight!"

Riku's fingers curl around the handle and he swings the Keyblade down by his side. "I'm coming, Sora!" he says as he charges into the fray.

The surge protector cheers and turns back to the walls. Now, he just needs to find – there! "Kingdom Hearts." He reaches out and taps the light, turns to watch the pixel ball.

Vanellope's ears perk up as she hears a noise. Looking up, she sees two giant doors with fancy details appear out of nowhere a ways beyond the castle. _Could that be Kingdom Hearts?_ she thinks. Now, they just need the Keyblades. Wiping her eyes, she gets to her feet and runs back the way she came to warn everyone.

SMACK!

She's knocked back and skids across the ground a few feet, glitching a little.

"Welcome to the boss level," a gravelly voice sneers.

Vanellope pushes herself up and stares in horror. "Oh, no," she moans.

**A/N: CLIFF HANGER! Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far! :D**


	22. A Sacrifice and a Hero

Gone is the bubbly, slightly high-pitched voice with a lisp. In place is a dark, scratchy voice. His bug form is all black, except for thin stripes of purple and yellow on his limbs, white angular swirls on his cuffs, pink tailwhips, and purple lines on his face. His crown is jagged, and his eyes glow solid white. The wings on his back are translucent fuchsia, long, and crooked. His movements emit smoke, and dark energy crackles around him.

The Heartless Virus opens his mouth to laugh, which is creepy-sounding. The rows of sharp, white teeth add to the creepiness. "Because of you, glitch," he says, craning his long, red-striped neck and unfurling his fingers, "I'm more powerful now than I ever was before. Hee hee! Nothing can stop me from taking over the entire arcade!" Vanellope glances around for an escape route. "I should thank you," he goes on, "but it would be more fun to kill you." He laughs as he charges for her.

She screams and glitches away, right as his claw comes down. "Get back here, little girl!" he taunts, his voice low, dark, and scratchy. He turns around, his movements lithe and smoky.

Vanellope doesn't look back, afraid to see the horrible monster right behind her. She keeps glitching, wishing she could travel farther distances in a single glitch. She gasps when the Heartless Virus glides in front of her, leaving dark-colored smoke in his wake. "Have some candy!" he says, shooting a ball of dark energy from his hand. It hits Vanellope and knocks her back, making her glitch for a few seconds.

She grits her teeth, unwilling to let him see her fear or pain, though she's a bit scratched up now. She gets to her feet and jumps in the air, trying to fly – but she comes back down to the ground. "Come on," she tells herself.

"What do you think you're doing?" he sneers, pouncing on her. She glitches out of the way and runs behind him, all the while trying to jump and fly.

_What did that boy say __about flying?_ She tries to remember.

She gasps when something rises from beneath her and snatches her. "I'm not through with you yet," the Heartless Virus says, tightening his grip on her. "Up we go!"

"No!" she says, trying hard to glitch out of his hand as he cackles and flies higher and higher. Unfortunately, she's so scared of falling that she just glitches in place.

* * *

Candy swears he can hear dark laughter, but when he looks around, he can't find the source. It's not until he hears a little girl scream that he looks up. "Vanellope!" he cries out, seeing her glitch in the monster's grasp. It flies higher than the castle, and his little girl is merely a blue dot now. "Vanellope!" he says again, reaching a hand out to her.

"Stop!" Kairi says, holding the old man back with her arm. "You can't go up there! You'll fall!"

"But I have to save my daughter," he tells her. "I'll do whatever it takes, as long as she lives another day. Please, help me!" He's on the verge of tears as he clasps his hands together and he nearly falls to his knees.

Kairi's heart goes out to him. "I really want to help, sir-" she glances up, "but there's no way up there."

"What about the sergeant?" he says. "She has that hover-thing. Maybe we could borrow it." They turn to ask Calhoun – but she's already floated off to help the Beholder fight some Heartless. They stare wide-eyed at the nearest group of Heartless as it crawls up to the pair. Candy and Kairi stay close to each other as they watch their doom approach.

Vanellope stops glitching for a moment to look down. It's a very, very long way down. Wait, what's that purple and pink thing right there? She squints. "Dad!" she yells. "Kairi!"

The Heartless Virus chuckles darkly as he tosses her up into the air. She shrieks and glitches. "Aww, look at that," he sneers, tossing her one more time. "It's your dear daddy and little friend." He grips her tight in one hand and yanks her head up with the other. "Let's watch them die together, shall we?"

Vanellope's heart pounds. "No! Dad!" Tears form in the corners of her eyes as she recalls her last words to her father: "_I hate you! You should've let me go!_" She really doesn't hate him, but now she'll never get the chance to tell him. If only she could tell him, then she could die happy.

Wait, happy? That's it! She has to think happy thoughts in order to fly!

The Heartless Virus laughs again. His scratchy voice leers, "It's game over for all of you! And this time, there's no soda volcano to stop me!"

"There's still me, Turbo!" she smirks, glitching out of his hands. She lets herself fall for a couple of seconds before thinking hard about her dad and Ralph and all her friends.

She shoots back up into the air. "Whoohoo!" she says, enjoying the wind in her hair as she flies around.

"Come back here!" the Heartless Virus snarls. He swiftly dives at her, but she glitches a couple of times out of the way, resulting in him bonking into the roof of the castle. He clutches his head, moaning, "Ooohh..."

Vanellope snickers and dives down, glitching a few feet away from Candy and Kairi and making them jump. "Hey, guys!" she says. "I have to tell you something!"

"Look out!" Kairi says, pushing father and daughter out of the way as the Heartless Virus slams his fist down on the spot they were standing on.

His glowing white eyes narrow. "You're not getting away so easily!" he growls, shooting a couple of dark energy balls.

They run away from the giant orbs before they can be hit. "I saw Kingdom Hearts!" Vanellope tells them.

Their eyes widen. "Really?" Kairi says. "Where?"

"On the other side of the castle." None of them notice the virus become 2-D and make his way behind the group.

"Now, we just need Sora and Riku," Kairi says with a grin.

The Heartless Virus springs up and grabs Candy, lifting him up with a dark cackle. "No!" the girls scream.

Candy glitches blue in fear as he's drawn farther away from his little girl. "Vanellope!" he screams.

The Heartless Virus brings the frightened man to his face and, white eyes glowering, says, "It's about time I got rid of you, Candy, once and for all!" He moves the king away from his face and raises his other claw.

"No!" Vanellope leaps up and glitches in front of her father – right when the monster launches a dark energy ball at the old man. She takes the hit instead.

"Vanellope!" Candy shrieks. Kairi jumps up and catches the unconscious, glitching racer.

"One down," the virus says grovelly, "one to go."

"No!" Candy tries hard to glitch and teleport like his daughter can. It takes a couple of tries, but he manages to break out of the monster's grasp.

"Oh, no you don't!" The Heartless Virus keeps snatching at the glitching man, who leads him away from the girls.

Kairi gently shakes the little president. "Vanellope! Vanellope, wake up!" she pleads.

All the little racer does is shake like a ragdoll.

"No..."

As Candy leads the monster away, he notices something shiny off to the side a bit. It's Sora! "Sora!" he calls out, glitching over to him.

The spiky-haired boy hits one more Cy-Bug Heartless before turning. "Sir!" he says. "What are you doing here?"

Candy grabs Sora's shoulder and glitches them both away from the virus' claw. "My daughter says she saw Kingdom Hearts!" Candy points to Hollow Bastion. "Right behind that castle!" He grabs the boy and glitches him out of the way of an attack from a Cy-Bug Heartless.

Sora grins. "That's awesome! Riku!" he shouts to his friend a few yards away. "We have to open Kingdom Hearts now!"

"I can't really leave right now!" Riku hollers back. Indeed, he is surrounded by a thick ring of Heartless, and they're too high to jump over.

"I got you!" Candy says. He glitches himself and Sora over to Riku, then he glitches all three of them to his kart (which miraculously is unscathed) and drives them all over to Kairi and Vanellope. Good thing, too, Candy is wiped out from glitching everyone everywhere. "Come on!" he tells the redhead. "I'm not leaving you or my little girl behind!"

Kairi scoops up Vanellope and slides in next to Sora. He holds on tight to her as Candy slams on the gas, propelling them around Hollow Bastion. "There it is!" Kairi says when they round the last corner, pointing at the tall doors.

KROOM!

The shock from the nearby blast rocks the kart, threatening to topple everyone out. The Heartless Virus follows them and shoots more dark energy orbs at them. "It's on your right!" Kairi says. Candy glitches the kart more to the left, and they avoid the shock from the blast. "Right behind you!" She keeps calling out directions, and he keeps glitching accordingly.

Finally, they're close enough to the doors. Sora and Riku jump out and summon their Keyblades, aiming them at the doors. Light gathers at the end of the keys.

"Ahh!" Sora cries out. He's been hit by a dark orb, and he's knocked off his feet a ways. The Keyblade flies out of his hand and loses the light.

The Heartless Virus chortles low. "I won't be fooled this time," he says, creeping closer.

"Sora!" Kairi lays Vanellope to the side and jumps out of the kart. She runs over to her friend. "Are you okay?"

He sits up, gritting his teeth against the soreness. "I'm fine," he grunts. "Let's open those doors." He tries to get up, but he's too scuffed and bruised and exhausted and falls back down.

"Giving up already?" Riku says as a beam of light shoots from his Keyblade and touches the doors. "Come on, Sora, I thought you were stronger than that."

Pushing himself up onto his elbows, he says, "I can do it from here if I had my Keyblade."

Kairi scans the area for the Keyblade. There! Just a few yards away! She scrambles over to it and snatches it up. "I got it, Sora!" she says. She's about to run over with it – when it starts glowing at the end.

"No!" the Heartless Virus utters, rushing over to knock her away. But the light is quicker. It gathers at the end of the key and shoots out to the doors. With two keys and two hearts, the doors to Kingdom Hearts open. Light pours through like water from an open dam. Everyone has to shut their eyes tight as the light flows over every bit of the game, from Hollow Bastion to the worlds beyond, scorching the dark creatures and restoring everyone, including the Bad-Anon members and Calhoun.

The Heartless Virus tries to scurry away from the oncoming light, but it's too much for his dark form, and he begins to disappear into smoke. He holds up his hands to try to block the light, but his efforts are futile. "Not agaaiiiiinnnnn!" he says as the last of him fades away. When the last of the creatures is vanquished, the doors close, and the light dims away.

A buzzing silence falls over the game as everyone recovers from what just happened. "How did you do that, Kairi?" Sora asks, his eyes wide and his jaw dropped. He looks at Kairi as if for the first time.

She stares down at her hand holding the Keyblade. "I-I don't know," she finally replies.

"Only chosen heroes can use the Keyblade," Riku says, swinging his over his shoulder. "But you're not a hero."

"Thanks for reminding me," she deadpans.

"Is it over?" Candy asks, blinking a couple times. "Tell me it's over!"

Kairi turns and smiles reassuringly at the old man. "It's over. No more of that creep."

"Hoo! That's a relief." His eyes fall upon his daughter's still form. "Vanellope." He gets out of his seat and joins her on the back of the kart, laying his daughter's head in his lap. "Sweetheart," he whispers, resting his hand on her forehead. He doesn't want to think the worst, but she's so still. "Sweetheart, wake up," he says softly, gently shaking her.

Still nothing.

_No... _Candy squeezes his eyes tight and hangs his head, giving a little sob. Kairi sees this and walks over. Sora watches her and takes a step in her direction.

"I'm sorry, sir," she softly says. She reaches out to pat his shoulder, but then draws her hand back and rubs her arm.

Candy sniffs. "All I wanted," he says, his voice heavy, "was to be with my girl again." He sobs once more. A tear escapes and trails down his nose, falling onto Vanellope's face. He wipes the tear away.

Her face twitches.

His heart thumps. Can it be? Is she still alive? He and Kairi exchange looks. "Vanellope?" he asks quietly. After a few seconds pass, he tries again, "Honey?"

She moans, her face twitching again. Her hazel eyes flutter open and focus on his face. "Dad?" she says in a hoarse voice.

"Vanellope!" He scoops her in his arms and hugs her tight, afraid to let go. His tears flow freely, but he's too overjoyed to care. "I thought I lost you."

She rests her head on his shoulder. "I don't hate you," she mumbles.

He rubs the back of her head. "I know, my dear. I know."

"You're alive!" Kairi says, running over to give her friend a hug. "I thought you were dead!"

Vanellope gives her signature smirk and says, "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

Candy laughs and hugs his daughter again.

"Hey, wait a minute," she says, looking around. "Where's Turbo?"

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Candy says, rubbing her back. "He's gone, and he's not coming back to hurt you anymore."

"Or you, right?"

Chuckle. "Right."

"Well done, soldiers," Calhoun says, walking over to them. Behind her are the Bad-Anon members.

"Where did that light come from?" Satan asks.

"And where are all the Cy-Bug Heartless?" M. Bison asks.

Calhoun takes one look at the weary expressions on the group's faces, and she says, "Let's give these guys a chance to rest."

Vanellope looks up at her father and says, "I wanna go home."

He smiles at her. "As you wish."

**A/N: Finally! It took me longer than expected to have this chapter ready! Hope you enjoyed it! :)**


	23. Return of the King

**A/N: This chapter is gonna have some mushy moments, but I figured it'd be okay, since everybody already went through enough as it is. Enjoy!**

"I'm sure they're doing fine, Ralph," Mary says, trying to calm the anxious wrecker.

Ralph is sitting on the floor of the penthouse, leaning against a wall. Felix took him here after Citrusella dropped them off, and the Nicelanders had done everything they could to help Ralph. His arm is now healed, but it took a while to get rid of the darkness. Gene and Roy were replacing the light when Felix brought Ralph in, and they had turned the light on really bright. It stung Ralph's arm, but then they figured out they had to use light to get rid of the darkness. It had taken nearly four really bright light bulbs to heal him for good.

Even though he was fully healed, Felix advised him to stay in this game.

"What if they need our help?" Ralph says. "What if Turbo goes after Vanellope? What if-"

"Relax, big guy," Gene says, pouring a martini for the wrecker. "If there's anything I learned about Vanellope, it's that she doesn't go down without a fight." He hands the martini to Ralph, who downs it in a single gulp.

A few seconds tick by. "That's it," he says, rising to his feet and throwing the glass away. "I can't stand it. I'm going over there."

"No, wait! Ralph!" Roy calls out. Too late. Ralph's already down the hallway. He presses the elevator button, taps his foot impatiently. He presses the button a few more times – until it breaks and pops out of the wall. He growls and heads for the stairs. He flies down them, wanting so desperately to get to Kingdom Hearts and see what's going on.

"Whoa!" Felix says when Ralph opens the front doors and nearly tramples the handyman. "Where are you going, Ralph?"

"I have to see how Vanellope's doing!" He makes for the tram.

"Wait, Ralph!"

"Felix," he says, turning to the shorter man, "don't try and stop me. That kid probably needs my help. I'm not just gonna sit here!"

"That's not what I meant." Felix adjusts the brim of his cap. "Wait for me. I'm coming along with you."

Ralph grins. "Thanks, Felix." The two of them race for the tram and hop in. Ralph bounces in his seat, making the tram shake. Felix lets it slide. He's just as nervous about Tammy. Is she alright? She's not hurt, is she?

The two waste no time in getting off, jumping out before the tram finishes stopping. They run into empty Game Central Station, rounding the corner.

"Hey, guys!" Ralph says, seeing Bad-Anon step out of the game's terminal. He jogs over to them. "What are you all doing out here?"

"The battle's over," Mishaela says.

Felix takes off his cap and wrings it. "Were any of you hurt?" he asks.

"We weren't," Calhoun says, walking out of the terminal while tapping something into her handheld, "but Vanellope took a hit."

"Where is she?" Ralph asks worriedly. He glances among them. "And where's Candy?"

Bowser says, "He drove her back to Sugar Rush. She wanted to go home."

"I have to check on her." Ralph runs over to Sugar Rush's terminal. "Thanks, guys!"

The Bad-Anon members decide to get well-deserved drinks at Tapper's before returning to their games. "I'm glad you're safe, Tammy," Felix says, stepping toward his wife.

She smiles and kneels down. "I'm glad you're safe, too." They share a kiss.

* * *

"Welcome Back, Dad." Candy reads those words over and over again, a proud smile plastered on his face.

"What are you reading, sir?" Citrusella asks as she, Tori, Nougetsia, and Sticky walk over to his kart.

"Vanellope made it for me," he says, showing off his cookie necklace.

"That's so sweet of her," Sticky says with a warm smile. "She's really nice."

Candy tucks the necklace into his shirt. "I still can't believe she wants to race, what with all that happened." As soon as the two of them had gone back to Sugar Rush, they were greeted by all the racers and citizens who were all so worried about them. Vanellope and Candy told them all everything that went down in Kingdom Hearts, from Peter Pan and Tinker Bell teaching Vanellope how to fly, to Kairi helping open Kingdom Hearts.

Vanellope drives over and parks her kart next to Candy's. "Are ya ready, Dad?" Vanellope says, coming over.

He says, "I am, but are you sure you're up to racing?"

"How else are you gonna be a real racer?"

"But we can always wait until you're feeling better."

"I feel fine," she insists. "Let's race already!"

"Kid!"

Vanellope turns in the direction of the voice and sees a certain stinkbrain running up to the starting line. "Ralph!" she cries, running up to him. She jumps up and hugs his shoulder, and he returns the gesture.

"Are you okay?" he asks, his words coming out in a rush. He kneels down, sets the little racer on the ground, and looks her over. "You're not too hurt, are you? I heard you took a big hit, and I didn't want you to be injured, and-"

"Geez, calm down, Major Body-odor!" she says, throwing her hands up. "I'm fine. Really. You still have to put up with me." Ralph grins.

Candy smiles as he walks over. "You two really are good friends," he comments.

"Vanellope's my best friend," Ralph tells him. "I'd do anything for her." She fingers the pie necklace that still hangs around her neck proudly.

Candy rests a hand on one of the wrecker's bigger ones. "It warms my heart to know that someone was looking after my little girl in my absence. Thank you."

"No problem."

Vanellope interrupts, "Are we gonna race now?"

Candy laughs. "Alright, my dear, since you're so eager." He gives Ralph one last smile before heading to his kart.

Citrusella waits until Vanellope has gone to her own kart before approaching Ralph. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asks.

"Sure, kid. What about?"

Vanellope hops into her kart and glances over to see Ralph and Citrusella talking to each other. She remembers seeing them in the pixel ball. Are they talking about her? But Ralph isn't planning anything else for her…is he? If he is, she should do something for him.

She shakes her head to clear it as the light turns green. She and her dad take off down the road.

They both are nearly tied as they come up on the Ice Cream Mountain part of the track, but Vanellope pulls ahead as they enter the tunnel. "Whoohoo!" Vanellope cheers as she rides the track like a roller coaster. Candy can't help but laugh, too, at the joy of racing with his little girl as they had before.

Vanellope leaves the tunnel first. She sees the finish line up ahead – but for once, she doesn't want to come in first. Her dream comes to mind…along with some memories that had been locked up until now. She always won against her dad. Every time they raced. Considering that Sugar Rush might be unplugged, she figured he deserved to win at least once.

She slams on the brake, and her father zooms past. He steps on the brake, too – but not before he crosses the red-and-white checkered line. It lights up, and Candy is lifted from his seat as the kart comes to a stop. "Whoa!" he says, wobbling in the air. Ribbons of light swirl around him, emitting faint sparkles. "What's all this?"

Nothing happens to him physically, but when he's set back on the ground, the reset light appears, spreading and washing over everything in the game. In the code vault, King Candy's code box shimmers, restoring itself to how it was originally programmed, shrinking back to its original size and all traces of Turbo vanishing in a flurry of sparks. And in the archiving code, the "King Candy" light blinks twice before separating into two lights: "King Candy" and "Turbo/Candy."

"Looks like the game's back to normal," Ralph comments, putting his hands on his hips.

Candy watches as Vanellope drives up to him and hops out. "Way to go, Dad!" she cheers.

"Vanellope, what happened?" he asks. "You just stopped, and you were so close to winning."

"I thought you should win, since I can't remember you ever winning in our races," she tells him. "You deserve getting the trophy instead."

He blinks, then smiles lovingly at her. "Oh, my dear," he says, putting his hands on her shoulders, "It was never about winning. Besides, I don't need a trophy to show I'm a winner. Just to be able to do what I love – what we both love – together, is the greatest prize of all." He doesn't make a sound as Vanellope throws herself into him for a hug, but there's not a father out there who could have been more proud than Candy is at this moment.

"Welcome back, Dad," she tells him.

Everyone smiles at the two. "Welcome back, King Candy," Ralph says.


	24. Found Out

**A/N: Sorry for the late chapter update. We're almost done with the story, guys. Just a few more chapters. I'm gonna miss you guys. :( I'm still debating about a sequel.**

**But for now, enjoy this lovely chapter!**

Mr. Litwak pulls up to his arcade right when Joe is getting the lift out of his van. He sighs. He'd really rather not lose Sugar Rush. It's such a popular game, and it's one of his favorites. He turns off the engine and gets out of his car. "Ready when you are," Joe drones.

_Is that guy ever happy?_ Litwak wonders. He walks up to the door and is about to pull out his keys, but at the last second stops and turns to Joe. "Do we really need to take the game out?" he says. "Can't you just fix it?"

Joe gives him an annoyed look. "The description of the glitch you gave yesterday sounds like a virus, a really bad one. It seems better to just take the game out."

Litwak sighs and stares at the ground as he pulls out his keys and fumbles with them until he finds the right one. He opens the door and steps aside, letting Joe enter with his lift. "Wait," Litwak hurriedly says. "Before you take it out, can I play a round?"

Joe still has that annoyed look. "Why?"

"Just for old times' sake."

"Fine."

Litwak slides into the console on the left. He reaches to pull off the "Out of Order" sign, but then pulls back and turns to Joe. "Do you want to play, too?"

Joe's eyes open all the way in surprise. "Really?"

"Sure, before it has to go."

"Um…sure." No one's invited him to play games since he was a little boy.

Litwak lifts off the "Out of Order" sign to reveal the Sugar Rush logo. He takes a couple quarters out of his pack as Joe parks the lift next to the other console and slides into the other seat. Litwak holds the quarters in his hands, silently wishing for the game to work, before putting a quarter in each slot.

"Chews your racer!"

He smiles with child-like wonder at the different avatars. "Who are you gonna pick?" he asks Joe.

The game-taker stares at the screen. "Uh, I'm not sure," he says. "I've never played this game before."

"Hmmm…" Litwak looks over the nine chosen racers: King Candy, Vanellope von Schweetz, Taffyta Muttonfudge, Jubileena Bing Bing, Gloyd Orangeboar, Minty Zaki, Torvald Batterbutte, Swizzle Malarkey, and Nougetsia Brumblestain.

"Why don't you play as King Candy?" Litwak suggests. "He's a good player to start off with."

"Okay," Joe says, maneuvering the selection tool over the elderly monarch.

"I'll play as Vanellope von Schweetz."

Joe snickers. "You're playing as a girl," he says.

_How mature_. "She's my favorite character," Litwak says defensively.

Joe shrugs it off, though he still has a smirk on his face. The light turns green, and Litwak takes off. It takes Joe a moment to figure out the controls, but then he's off. Litwak arrives at the Gumball Gorge first, collecting a power up. "Syrup Puddle!" the announcer says. He dumps the sticky stuff onto the track and traps Jubileena.

Joe moves up to 6th place by the time he arrives at Gumball Gorge. He also drives through a power up. "Sugar Rush!" the announcer says. King Candy has a burst of speed that puts him in third place, right behind Swizzle and Vanellope.

"You're doing good!" Litwak remarks as he continues on to Cakeway. "Are you sure you've never played this game?"

Joe keeps his eyes on the road as he replies, "Never."

"Man, you're a natural!" Soon, the men are fighting over who gets first place. It's a close call as they drive along the icy track to the Ice Cream Mountains. Litwak keeps his eyes peeled for the strange creature to fly out of the mountains. It never does. He keeps watching as he drives through the tunnel and out the other side, but nothing happens. Maybe it was a fluke yesterday?

Litwak crosses the finish line first, leaving Joe to take second place. They watch as Vanellope receives the trophy on the track in front of the stands and everyone's around her, applauding. Litwak has never seen the two-player ending, as he's always walking around his arcade to check on each game. He grins as he sees all the racers, the different candy citizens, Wreck-It Ralph hiding behind one of the stands –

Wait. Wreck-It Ralph? Litwak leans forward and adjusts his glasses, squinting a little. Sure enough, Ralph is hiding behind Taffyta' stand, with only his hair and eyes sticking out. He glances over at Joe to see if he notices anything out of the ordinary, but the man's just smiling, happy to play a game again.

"Thanks for the game, Litwak," he says, rising out of his seat as the logo reappears. "It was nostalgic."

"Any time, Joe." Litwak looks back at the game, wondering why he would see another game's character in Sugar Rush.

Joe mistakes the look on Litwak's face for worry and says, "Well, there's obviously nothing wrong with this game, so I won't take it today."

Litwak stares at him. "Really?"

"Sure. I'll just tell my boss it was a little glitch and it got sorted out." He grabs his lift and wheels it out the door. "Thanks again for the game!"

Litwak waves as Joe loads the lift into the van and drives away. He turns back to the game, putting his hands on his hips. The screen shows the logo again. He stares at it a moment longer before turning to look at Fix It, Felix Jr. and peers into the game. It still has the "Insert Coin" screen. A thought pops into his head, and he walks over and takes out a quarter, pushing it into the slot. The intro starts up, but Ralph is nowhere to be seen. The bulldozers move the stump to the dump, and the words "Hey! You moved my stump!" appear over the garbage. But still no Ralph.

* * *

Ralph stumbles out of the Sugar Rush tram and is running through the terminal when the surge protector appears, along with an electric blue portal. "Hurry!" he says. "This will take you to the main building in your game. Litwak's already put in a quarter. Go!"

"Thanks, surge!" Ralph says, barreling through the portal.

* * *

The new apartment building is just built, and the Nicelanders cheerfully skip inside. The caption "I'm gonna wreck it!" appears. Nothing happens for several seconds, but then Ralph runs onto the screen and repeats those words. Litwak watches Ralph closely, looking for any telltale signs he was in a different game.

The citizens scream for help, Felix declares he can fix it, and the game begins. Everything goes smoothly, as it's done for years – well, not including that time last year when Ralph was gone. As Litwak plays, he wonders if Ralph was in another game back then, like just now with Sugar Rush. If somehow, he left his own game. Is that even possible?

He wins the level, and Felix receives his medal and a kiss from one of the Nicelander ladies. Ralph is lifted up – and his eyes dart to Sugar Rush.

Litwak is unblinking as he watches the giant be thrown off the roof and land in a pile of mud. Something goes flying off of him. It looks like one of those heart cookies you can get around Valentine's Day. Before Litwak can get a better look at it, the screen darkens, preparing for the next round. Everything goes as it should, no sign of the cookie. He wins again and watches Ralph more intently. The wrecker almost smiles at the Nicelanders when they're about to hoist him up, and they look like they're stifling smiles, too. _Odd_. Nothing flies off of Ralph when he hits the mud.

The third level begins same as always. But this time, Litwak has an idea. Given a weird one, but he has to know if he's going cuckoo or not. "Hey, Ralph," he says aloud, "that was a nice cookie I saw in the first level. Did you get it from Sugar Rush?"

The wrecker's angry grimace disappears for a moment as Ralph looks directly at the screen is about to say something, but then he resumes character. But that slip-up is all Litwak needs.

"You really were in Sugar Rush, weren't you?" he says, slowing down his playing.

Ralph twitches, and his eyes flicker to Felix, who also glances quickly up at Ralph.

"Can you talk?" Litwak asks, feeling more like an idiot for talking to a videogame. He takes his hands off the controls.

Ralph knocks a couple more bricks down before stopping. "Yes, I can talk," he says to Litwak.

The old arcade owner is a little shocked to hear Ralph answer back. He hears hissing coming from the game, but then Felix lowers his hammer and says to one of the windows, "Give it up, Gene. He already knows."

"So," Litwak says, pointing at them, "you guys are alive?"

"Of course, sir," Felix says.

"How long has this been going on?"

Ralph says, "Since we got plugged in."

Litwak, rubbing the back of his head, asks, "Can you, er, switch games, or do you only stay in your game?"

Ralph stiffens, but he answers, "We can visit other games, but-"

"So I did see you in Sugar Rush!"

The wrecker looks guilty, like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar. "You saw me?"

"When I was racing against Joe, that other guy. You were hiding behind a stand."

Ralph doesn't say anything, and neither does Felix.

"Is that what happened last year?" Litwak asks.

Ralph laughs nervously and rubs his arm. "Yeah, I, uh, game-jumped."

"Well, at least I know the game wasn't broken. Do you game-jump often?"

One of the windows opens, and a Nicelander pokes his dark head out. "We're not supposed to game-jump during game hours," he says, glancing up at Ralph. "We do it when the arcade's closed."

Ralph clasps his hands together and says, "Hey, Mister Litwak?"

"Yes, Ralph?"

The wrecker wrings his hands and looks down at Felix as if asking for permission. The fixer nods and smiles at him. Ralph lifts his gaze and says, "Can I ask you a favor?"

* * *

Right after school gets out, the moppet girl rides her bike all the way to Litwak's arcade. Kids are already inside by the time she gets there, and looking through the window walls, she sees some of them playing Sugar Rush. "Yes!" she says as she locks up her bike.

She eagerly enters the arcade, heading over to Sugar Rush to wait her turn.

She stops when she recognizes the two kids playing. These two are bullies, often hogging games for the whole day. Still, it doesn't hurt to try. "I call next game," she says, setting her quarter down on the middle armrest.

"Go away, kid!" one of the boys says, knocking her quarter back with his soda cup. "We're playing all day with today's racers!"

"Yeah!" the other kid adds.

She picks up her quarter and glares at them. "You can't keep the games all to yourselves," she tells them.

"Whatever,_ Mom_," the first boy retorts.

The moppet girl bites her lip to keep from saying something nasty and walks away. To her surprise, Mr. Litwak walks up to her. "Hey, sweetheart," he says.

"Hey," she says, her anger fading. "I see you fixed Sugar Rush."

He rubs his nose and bites back a grin. "It wasn't that bad, or so the 'experts' say." He puts his hands on his hips and looks over at said game. "Looks like those kids are back," he says.

The moppet girl frowns at them. "Yeah. And I was really hoping to play Sugar Rush, too."

Litwak puts a hand on her shoulder and says quietly, "Hey, if you're not busy, I've got something for you to do."

"Really?"

"Sure. You're one of my best customers. Plus, one of my new friends says he owes you."

She scrunches up her face in thought. "Really? Who?"

"Wreck-It Ralph."


End file.
